Clause 33
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (the North West), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
The short answer is to do with the all-powerful Treasury. The power to require payment into the Consolidated Fund set out in clause 33 provides the flexibility needed to meet any future changes in the revenue accounting arrangements set out in clause 32, which provides for revenue collected by the UK Border Agency to be paid to HMRC. In that sense, there is no timetable.
Should circumstances change, clause 33 will enable the Treasury to require the Secretary of State and the director of border revenue to pay the revenue they collect into the Consolidated Fund. That might be necessary if there is a change in the accounting arrangements by HMRC and/or the UK Border Agency, or if there is a significant improvement in the amount of revenue we collect. We are currently responsible for 5 per cent. of Treasury take through tax and duty. That will change significantly, for example when the Government’s successful economic policy increases trade with the rest of the world. It would also change if, God forbid, with the advent of a Conservative Government, our manufacturing suffered such a collapse that we had to import everything, because duties would then go up.
I will now stop trying to buy time with hypothetical circumstances and read this note. This clause allows flexibility should the amount of revenue change. It mirrors the arrangements in the Revenue and Customs laws; there is nothing new about it. It is there just in case, rather than just in time.