§ Mr. LAMBERTasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, for each year since its inception, the total cost to the taxpayer of the beet sugar subsidy, to include the direct cost of the subsidy plus the duty that would have been collected by the Exchequer?
§ Mr. PETHICK-LAWRENCEFigures are given below for each financial year since the passing of the British Sugar (Subsidy) Act, 1925. Excise duty is levied on sugar produced in this country from home-grown beet, and I have interpreted the right hon. Member's question as referring to the difference between the amount of this duty and the amount which would have been payable at the rate applicable to imported sugar of foreign origin.
Year. Subsidy Paid. Cost of Preferential Rebate. £ £ 1924–25 42[...],040 — 1925–26 1,0[...]6,090 259,000 1926–27 3,225,859 583,000 1927–28 4,309,260 761,000 1928–29 2,854,239 1,109,000 1929–30 4,229,730 1,709,000