Clause 1. — (TERMINATION OF SURCHARGE UNDER FINANCE ACT, 1961, s. 9, AND RELATED INCREASES IN DUTIES.)

Part of FINANCE (No. 2) BILL – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 June 1967.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Alistair Macdonald Mr Alistair Macdonald , Chislehurst 12:00, 1 June 1967

That is the little gap which he did not fill, although he has now. He says that there should be some other measure at the time, but surely the whole point of the regulator is that it is to deal with contingencies, not with things which are certain to happen. His argument is that there should be a provision in the Budget to provide for something which may or may not happen. The whole concept of the regulator is to be able to deal with contingencies. By this mysterious doctrine one is thereby debarred from using the regulator, which is designed to meet possibilities, and instead one must provide some alternative positive measure then and there for something that may never happen. I could not understand this argument and for that reason it seemed to me that the proposal to knock out the regulator altogether was entirely inconsistent with the arguments advanced.