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11.47 am

Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood): I urge the Leader of the House not to let the House adjourn for the Whitsun recess until her right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has made a statement in the House on why Her Majesty's Government did nothing to stop the European Union abolishing the sale of duty-free goods to travellers within the European Union from 1 June 1999. The right hon. Lady knows that we had a full debate on the subject on 6 May, and that there was unanimity in the House on the belief that the measure would be highly damaging to jobs in the United Kingdom--jobs in airlines, at airports, in ferry companies and at sea ports. Nevertheless, Her Majesty's Government proceeded to do nothing to prevent the abolition and the damage which would ensue.

The Government take great pride in their power and influence as holders of the presidency of the EU. At the Economic and Finance Council we saw exactly what that meant--that Her Majesty's Government would connive with EU initiatives and do nothing to protect Britain's interests. It is not as if the UK presidency did not have potential allies at yesterday's Council. There was strong pressure from Germany and Ireland to initiate a study on the effect of the abolition of duty-free shopping for travellers within the EU, and support also from France, Spain and Greece, yet the Economic Secretary sat on her hands and did nothing.

At least the Economic Secretary was following the Prime Minister's lead. In a written answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Mr. Gale) yesterday, he put the Government's position clearly. The question was:

"To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 18 December 1997 . . . on duty-free shopping, what estimate he has made of the potential number of job losses that will arise from the ending of the trade in duty-free goods; whether, during the UK presidency, the Commission carried out the proposed survey; and if he will make a statement."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has the gall to shed crocodile tears. The Daily Telegraph today states:

"Gordon Brown, the Chancellor and president of the finance council, surprised many when he voiced regret that his colleagues had not given their backing to its study.


In a belated"--

We are told, if the article in The Daily Telegraph is right, that the Commission does not believe that the sale of duty-free goods is compatible with the single market. Duty-free sales exist for travellers within the Mercosur countries in South America, the North American Free Trade Agreement countries and the ASEAN countries in south-east Asia. The Commission wants to abolish them because it wishes to do away with fiscal differentiation--in other words, the power of nation states to set their own tax rates. It wants the EU to behave as if it is already a single fiscal entity--in other words, a single state.

The European Commission says that it will now report on aid programmes that might be available to help areas adversely affected by the abolition of duty free. It seems that, at the Commission's behest, our taxpayers, who may in some instances have lost their jobs because of the abolition of duty-free shopping, will now, through their purses--through their EU contributions--have to provide a subsidy, or a subvention, to areas where jobs have been lost because of the abolition.

That is a classic little vignette. It is a perfect example of how Britain is seeing more and more power going to the EU, how our Parliament is impotent, how even unanimity in the House is ignored by the Government, who kowtow to the EU, and how excellent early-day motions, such as that tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond)--early-day motion 1339 on the timing of the abolition of duty-free shopping, which he and I and nine other hon. Members have signed--are ignored. I hope that the Chancellor will come to the House and explain himself.

11.55 am

Mr. Fabian Hamilton (Leeds, North-East): Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity to raise an issue of national, regional and local importance; it is certainly of great importance to my constituency. The issue to which I refer is the establishment of a new voluntary-aided high school in Leeds, a Jewish high school, for which many of my constituents have been pressing for a number of years.

The campaign started four years ago, when leading members of the Jewish community, a community which represents the third largest concentration of Jewish people in the United Kingdom, tried to establish, through the local education authority, a Jewish high school.

Previously, Leeds had a Jewish voluntary-aided primary school, Brodetsky primary school, and a Jewish voluntary-aided middle school, Morris Silman middle school. In 1992, the schools in Leeds were reorganised to

20 May 1998 : Column 904

Since then, the community has set up a charitable trust and has struggled hard to establish that school. In my brief tenure of the office of chairman of the education committee, I tried to further that cause by commissioning a study from Leeds university into the viability of such a high school. That report was published after my election to the House and, unfortunately, my successor did not feel that it made a strong case. That view was different from the one taken by the high school's supporters.

Yesterday, I received the Jewish community's high school proposal, which is to be submitted to the Department for Education and Employment because the community wants it to look at its rational case for that school--and it has many strong supporters.

The mission statement in that proposal states:

"The school will:


Teach Jewish pupils the beliefs and practices of the Jewish faith and an understanding of the responsibility for religious and cultural continuity;


Afford the regular opportunity to non-Jewish pupils to worship in their accustomed manner as they choose, and to explore ethics and morality in a wider sense through regular RE lessons;


Instil into all pupils of love of moral behaviour and a genuine respect, rather than a mere tolerance of other religions, races and cultures;


Ensure that our able pupils strive for nothing less than academic excellence, and that our less academically able pupils are given every encouragement to realise their potential and to discover areas of study in which they can develop and grow."

The school has many strong supporters. The late Councillor Patrick Crotty, Conservative councillor and former chairman of the education committee in Leeds, said that he was

"a firm supporter of the right of the Jewish community to educate its children in a Jewish environment."

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds, the Right Rev. David Konstant, states that

"the dual system agreement was a milestone in the history of education provision in this country and established a unique and valuable relationship between public and voluntary bodies."

I pay tribute to the proposers, including Victor Zermansky, retired solicitor and prominent member of the Jewish community in Leeds, who has pushed for the school for many years and who compiled the document to which I referred earlier, and Dr. Jonathan Bodansky, consultant physician at Leeds general infirmary and chairman of the charitable trust, who has pushed so hard, together with his colleague, Rabbi Ian Goodhardt. Those three men have worked extremely hard for the establishment of the school.

With the existence of Catholic voluntary-aided high schools and Church of England voluntary-aided high schools, it must be right to allow the establishment of a Jewish voluntary-aided high school in Leeds. That would be only equitable and proper. I hope that my right hon. Friend will pass the message on to the Department for Education and Employment so that such a school can be established before much longer.

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