UK Parliament / Open data

Duties of Customs

Proceeding contribution from Marcus Fysh (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Monday, 20 November 2017. It occurred during Debate on bills on Duties of Customs.

I thank the hon. Lady. I agree that we need clarity as early as possible on all these issues, and I encourage Ministers to come forward with ideas on that.

Returning to what we heard about Ireland in various interventions on the Minister, I would like him to think about whether, in the VAT resolutions, we are confining ourselves a little too much by saying that the Government may not, through the Bill, make any amendment relating to VAT rates, exemptions and zero rating. One of the issues with the Irish border historically, and where the real problems came from when Ireland was given its independence, was the amount of smuggling, and the rates and tariffs on goods going into the UK were a major factor in that. Perhaps we could look to smoothing the feelings and the actual processes on the Irish border to make sure that, as far as possible, our VAT rates are as harmonised as they could be so that there is no temptation to smuggle there.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

631 c770 

Session

2017-19

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber
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