(Except clauses 1 to 3 and 16 to 53 and - schedules 4 to 11) - Clause 5 - Alcoholic liquor duties
Finance Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Michael Jack (Fylde, Conservative)
I welcome you to our proceedings, Mr. Hood. When we broke from the morning session, I was observing that the Customs and Excise press release C&E2 stated that the measure had the full support of the National Association of Cider Makers. However, the representation that I received from Devon Contract Packing Ltd makes it clear that the measure was not put forward by the National Association of Cider Makers but, as the letter says,
``by the two largest manufacturers, privately, after an NACM meeting.''
The letter makes a further point:
``The worst part of the proposed legislation is the immediate implementation date. As there was no prior warning that this legislation was pending, or indeed no consultation with any of the firms who currently use DPD, we will be put in an impossible commercial position.''
That does not seem to me to be a very sensible way to go about things. Devon Contract Packing Ltd is a small enterprise and, as the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr. Burnett) said, it is in an area that is suffering the economic ravages of the foot and mouth outbreak.
I hope that the Financial Secretary will give us some hard facts as to why the measure has been put forward. There is no specific information in the Government's propaganda about the potential duty losses. Devon Contract Packing Ltd says that it gains financially from the status quo to the same extent that the big cider manufacturers gain from their deposit arrangements. The letter concludes by proposing a complete review of cider duty, and that would be right way to discuss the measure.