Orders of the Day — Import Duties Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 December 1957.

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Photo of Mr Hervey Rhodes Mr Hervey Rhodes , Ashton-under-Lyne 12:00, 2 December 1957

I do not quarrel with the main provisions of the Bill, except one, and I think that the consolidation that the Bill makes is a good thing.

The President of the Board of Trade made some remarks about the situation in 1932 and the imposition of the duties through the May Committee of that year, and remarked upon the state of industry since the war. Business is easy when buoyancy and expansion is the rule. Come a time, however, when things are not quite as good, then the difficulties of an industry which is affected are enormous. It is easy to expand when there is trade; it is easy to expand when one has the money. It is when one has to contract, or just "hold one's horses" for a while, that the difficulties begin.

For illustration, I need refer only to the present state of the aircraft industry in this country. That industry, everybody will know, is going through a very difficult time indeed, and it should have the sympathy of hon. Members on both sides of the House. A White Paper was brought to the House but no more indication was given of what policy should be pursued, and the industry is left to its own devices.

Before the war, the time of expansion after the war, and the new era we are going into now are three identifiable times in the history of our industries. I shall have something more to say about that in a minute or two, but may I come to my main criticism of the Bill as it stands? It relates to the Import Duties Board. The Board, as it is proposed to be constituted, is a puppet of the Board of Trade. Make no mistake about it. That is the case.

Hon. Members will have observed this year's sequence of events, starting with the Finance Act, and continuing with the Customs Duties (Dumping and Subsidies) Act, and in this Bill there emerges a pattern of Government policy leading to the European Free Trade Area idea. That is significant, and it is alarming to me that the Board which it is intended to set up by the Bill should be hamstrung from the start.

Its function is permissive only: the Board of Trade may seek its assistance. It may ask for relevant facts to be considered. The Board of Trade can object to the personnel on the Board. The Chairman of the Board cannot do the same. He has to do exactly what he is told—with this exception, that under Part II, the Chairman is to be so overloaded with pettifogging detail that it will prevent much real consideration of important facts.

It seems to me that this undermines the functions of the Board. The President of the Board of Trade is perfectly right in setting it up, but my own personal view is that this undermining of the functions of the Board is out of line with the experience which has developed elsewhere, namely, in the Dominions, and also in the United States of America, where they know the value of independent tribunals when considering tariff questions.