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8 pm
The ingenuity of the smugglers in the border areas between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic knows no bounds. My hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Ross) has referred to the fitting out of a cattle or livestock lorry with a huge tank. The ventilator shafts were stuffed with sheep fleeces, and a few bleating sheep were put in the front of the lorry. Each time it came to a checkpoint, the sheep attracted the sympathy of the police man or the Customs and Excise man and, time and again, it was waved on.
Tractor, car and Land Rover trailers are fitted out with tanks, and a load of peat is spread over the top to give the impression that peat is being transported innocently from the bogs for domestic use. So it goes on. Grain lorries capable of carrying 40 tonnes are fitted out with huge tanks and carefully disguised. They then fill up and move on.
Oil storage appears to be a growing and thriving industry in the border areas, especially in Northern Ireland. There are more oil storage tanks in some agricultural areas than there are cattle, sheep or pig units, and cowboy hauliers can make even greater profits by using red diesel, on which no duty is paid. They have an even greater incentive, because there are so few customs officials on the ground. We reckon that hundreds of millions of pounds must be being lost annually to our Exchequer, which is very painful--that money should have been providing us with schools and colleges and would have helped to take the pain out of present policies, which are almost bankrupting every school under local management.
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
Has the hon. Gentleman calculated the loss to the Exchequer when a big lorry fills up in the south of Ireland? Big lorries can take 400 litres, which represents a saving of £240 on the increased costs in the Budget. That would more than pay the cost of ferrying such a lorry to the mainland.
Mr. Beggs:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. What he says is quite true, but think how easy it is in Northern Ireland to take a trip across the border, which is only 40 miles away. The trip takes only five gallons of fuel and drivers save hundreds of pounds by tanking up. That is being done legitimately by many operators. I am amazed that the Government have given us no indication that research is being carried out into how many million gallons of fuel have been delivered into Northern Ireland over the past few years and how those supplies have been replaced surreptitiously by supplies coming in from the Irish Republic.
Mr. William Ross (East Londonderry):
My hon. Friend may not be aware that I have recently questioned the Treasury on this matter. I am told that it does not know how much it is losing--it does not seem to be able to work it out--but I note that one of its replies said that deliveries dropped by 30 million litres of petrol and 40 million litres of diesel in one three-month period between 1996 and the end of last year.
Mr. Beggs:
That is indicative of the scale of loss to our Exchequer. It also reflects the damage being done to legitimate businesses in Northern Ireland.
I welcome the recently reported crackdown by Customs and Excise in Northern Ireland, but it seems strange to some of us that it is possible for it to report a successful knock operation and show us the impounded vehicles only when the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee visits Belfast for an appointment with Customs and Excise. It is quite remarkable--
Mr. Hayes:
Where do they fill up the vans?
Mr. Beggs:
Vans of all kinds are filled up, and even bread vans are running out of the Irish Republic in disguise. Every disguise is used.
It is surprising that a knock operation can be arranged to impress the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee when it visits Belfast--those matters were debated last week--and it was also surprising to read the Belfast Telegraph on 21 April. It said:
There are also losses to the Irish Republic's economy, because many operators get a double benefit; they receive thousands of pounds for delivering diesel or petrol to Northern Ireland, and they return with loads of heating oil, which is at a premium in the Republic. They have nothing to learn, and I hope and trust that the Government recognise the seriousness of the threat to our legitimate haulage industry and the damage that recent Budget tax increases have caused.
I also hope that the setting up of the haulage forum will not be typical of the Government. People are becoming sceptical, because the Government are interested in soundbites and catchy headlines. They continue to take advantage of promises of additional expenditure, getting three or four times the mileage from the same money, although it is still not spent. I hope that they are sincere in setting up the haulage forum and that the consultation will be meaningful. If it is to be meaningful, positive action has to be taken to protect our haulage and freight industry within the United Kingdom.
Bearing in mind the specific and serious problems within Northern Ireland, I appeal to the Government to look at those special circumstances and to take specific measures to protect legitimate haulage businesses and petrol retailers in Northern Ireland. The Government must prevent those with paramilitary links from gaining huge profits, which are so accessible to them, and transferring them for use in future terrorism. The situation is serious and requires urgent attention. I appeal to the Government to show us evidence that these real problems are being addressed.
Mr. McNulty:
I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for East Antrim (Mr. Beggs), who will not mind me saying that he could never be accused of talking in sound bites. I am sure that he was not suggesting that smuggling between Northern Ireland and the Republic is new, or that
I take the hon. Gentleman's point about the lack of infrastructure within both the north and the Republic. Apart from one railway up the east coast, there is not much at all. I have strong connections with the county of Donegal. After the introduction of the punt, I spent 10 or 15 years deciding whether to fill up in Monaghan Town or Aughnacloy, or to stop at Strabane and then go over the bridge and fill up at Lifford, or the other way round. Thus the problem is not new. It would be a misrepresentation of the hon. Gentleman's comments if anyone were to suggest that the difficulties in Northern Ireland occurred because of this Budget or previous Budgets. I know that that is not what he was saying.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that, if productive work is to be done at the road haulage forum, there might be scope for looking at the specific concerns of Northern Ireland. Because of the nature of its geography and infrastructure, those concerns are very real and different. However, adjusting the level of fuel duties in the Finance Bill will not solve the problem of smuggling, whichever way it is going across the Irish border. The Irish haulage industry did not collapse when things were considerably cheaper in the north.
Mr. Beggs:
The seriousness of the situation in Northern Ireland is such that the Exchequer could be losing as much as £400 million. It has been suggested that the legitimate industry could have rebates for the fuel used, which would then do away with the huge differential. Never in the history of differentials in fuel rates between the north and the south have we had as big a gap as there is now.
Mr. McNulty:
I take that point. If I wanted to be facetious, I would say that that makes a strong argument for, if not the unification of Ireland, at least the unification of tax rates and fuel rates within Ireland. I accept that there is a specific context, and if the road haulage forum looks specifically at Northern Ireland's concerns, that would not be overdue. I appreciate the candour with which the hon. Gentleman spoke--unlike most Opposition Members.
"Customs officers have cracked down on illegal fuel by seizing nearly 30 vehicles over the past week."
That was good timing. We welcome those seizures, but they come a bit late, considering how many legitimate petrol and diesel retailers have been put out of business. Any operator who is in tow with smugglers can set up a portakabin as an outlet retailing cut-price fuel and move on to another site the next day, repeating the cycle. Punitive action must be taken against those involved in illegal practices.
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