HC Deb 28 February 1964 vol 690 cc125-6W
Mr. Gresham Cooke

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government will now make arrangements to enable members of the Diplomatic Corps in London to obtain domestically produced spirits free of duty.

Mr. R. A. Butler

Yes. Arrangements are being made whereby, as from 1st April, 1964, Heads of foreign and Commonwealth Missions in London, and Heads of the London offices of International Organisations having equivalent privileges, will be able to obtain from the Foreign Office or the Commonwealth Relations Office (as the case may be) a refund of the amount of Excise Duty paid on purchases of British produced spirits for themselves and their diplomatic staff for official entertaining. The operation of these arrangements will naturally be carefully supervised.

This concession, which is in line with those made by the majority of other countries which are major producers of spirits, will place British manufacturers on the same footing as their foreign competitors, whose products the Diplomatic Corps can already import free of duty.