HC Deb 07 July 1988 vol 136 c656W
Mr. Teddy Taylor

To ask the Prime Minister what were the reasons for Her Majesty's Government agreeing to duties on coal and steel imports being included within own resources at the recent Council meeting; and what is the estimated total of such duties.

The Prime Minister

The exclusion from own resources of duties under the European Coal and Steel Community treaty had been an anomaly, and the Government accepted that it would be sensible to treat them as own resources like all other duties and levies on imports from third countries. This will not add to the total resources available to the Community, the Council having also agreed a comprehensive ceiling covering all own resources. Payments of coal and steel duties are likely to be around 100 mecu in 1988 for the Community as a whole, of which the United Kingdom share is estimated to be around 10 per cent.