asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what he estimates to be the present annual cost to the wine and spirit trade of financing advance payment of excise duties; and what proportion will be attributable for the current year to the recent rise of the minimum lending rate to 12·5 per cent.

I regret that this information is not available. In December 1977 the Wine and Spirits Association suggested to me that the cost in 1976–77 was some £19 million on certain assumptions about average financing periods and rates of interest. Any recalculation would inevitably involve fresh assumptions about current trade practices and could only be speculative.