Betterment Levy

Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 11 June 1969.

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Photo of Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne , South Angus 12:00, 11 June 1969

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the total amount collected by the Land Commission to date in levies upon the disposal of assets where no profit arose to the person or persons who made the disposal.

Photo of Dr Dickson Mabon Dr Dickson Mabon , Greenock

Information about betterment levy, if any, collected in these circumstances is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Photo of Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne , South Angus

That is a most unsatisfactory answer in view of the outrageous injustice involved in this sort of application of the levy. Is the Minister of State aware that, despite the fact that this sort of blood sucking is going on, the Land Commission to date has cost £80,000 more to run than it has brought in in revenue? Is it not the height of lunacy to keep such an operation going for a single day longer?

Photo of Dr Dickson Mabon Dr Dickson Mabon , Greenock

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman will not take my advice in particular cases when I urged him, if he remembers, that negotiations should continue. I cannot help feeling that he is using these situations for party political propaganda. It is wrong to make sweeping generalisations like this, particularly at this time when the Land Commission is working so hard on this matter.

Photo of Mr Willie Hamilton Mr Willie Hamilton , Fife West

Does my hon. Friend realise that land prices around the aluminium smelter site have trebled and are likely to go on increasing? Will the Scottish Office take immediate steps to get the Land Commission to buy up that land to ensure that the profits arising from public investment come back to the public?

Photo of Dr Dickson Mabon Dr Dickson Mabon , Greenock

Off the cuff I could not make an acknowledgment on precisely that point, but I am aware that the Land Commission is engaged in negotiations in that area in support of infrastructure, if not of the actual industrial plant itself.