§ Mr. Freemanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the earlier payment of non-value added tax own resources to the European Communities in April.
§ Mr. BrookeIn accordance with article 10(2) of Council regulation 2891/77, the Commission has invited member states to advance from 20 May to 21 April the payment of own resources other than VAT in respect of agricultural, sugar and isoglucose levies and customs duties collected by the Government on its behalf in March.
In accordance with this request, the Government propose to make an advance payment of some £132 million on 21 April. This will be financed initially by a repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund, pending parliamentary approval of a summer Supplementary Estimate. The payment of levies and duties on 20 May 1986 which is made directly from the Consolidated Fund under section 2(3) of the European Communities Act 1972 will be reduced by the amount of the advance. There will therefore be no net addition to forecast public expenditure for 1986–87.