§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his most recent estimate of revenue losses the Treasury can expect from an increase in personal allowances from 300 duty-paid cigarettes to(a) 800 duty-paid cigarettes and (b) 800 duty-paid cigarettes and 1 km of hand-rolling tobacco and 400 cigars, following the relaxation of intra-Community customs barriers in 1993.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardTravellers' allowances are due to be abolished from I January 1993 as part of the single market programme. The quantities referred to in the question are minimum indicative levels which have been agreed by the Council as part of a set of rules to enable member states to help distinguish commercial from private importations.
Considerable uncertainty must surround any estimate of the revenue effect of such a large relaxation of constraints on duty paid shopping. We have no estimates for the likely revenue loss from individual tobacco products. However, on the basis of the little evidence that is available, we estimate an annual loss from cross border shopping for all excise products, including alcoholic drinks, to be in the region of £¼ billion. Most of this loss is associated with cigarettes.