Revenue Duties (Protective Elements)

HC Deb 23 June 1960 vol 625 cc66-8W

Mr. Gresham Cooke

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the decision of the United Kingdom Government to exercise the option of eliminating the protective element in Revenue duties on or before January, 1965, but without making any reduction in import duty in the current financial year, whether it is his intention to reduce the relevant duties in one or more stages during the next four years.

Mr. Amory

As I explained in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucestershire, South (Mr. Corfield) on 3rd June, it is not the Government's intention to maintain the protective elements in all the duties concerned in full until the end of 1964. On the contrary, in the case of most of these duties the Government hopes to make substan tial reductions in the effective protective elements, if not to eliminate them, before that date. The reductions may be by one or more instalments, as may be appropriate in each case, but I am not in a position at this stage to state details of the changes or the dates when they will be made.