§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his written reply dated 20 December 1983, Official Report, column 156, concerning the United Kingdom's value added tax own resources payments, whether he will now include the United Kingdom figure for 1983, together with the actual cash payment gross and net in each year from 1979 onwards.
§ Mr. Ian StewartFurther to my written reply on 20 December 1983, at column156, I regret that I am still not yet able to give the hon. Member a definitive figure for 1983. It is not possible, because of the need to assemble accounting and statistical data, to calculate the United Kingdom VAT base for any year before June of the following year.
The gross and net payments to the European Communities in each year since 1979 are set out in the table:
Year Gross payment Net payment £ million £ million 1979 1,606 947 1980 1,767 706 1981 2,174 397 1982 2,863 605 1983 2,976 685