Brexit: Advertising of Duty-Free Shopping

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate Excerpts

Monday 30th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord makes a very good point, but the guidelines on what constitutes advertising and was what does not constitute paid-for advertising are very clear. They are laid down by the Advertising Standards Authority, which looked into this in great detail and responded in the extremely clear terms which I read out—so I am not sure that that is an entirely ambiguous point.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

Does my noble friend not agree, however, that many of our provincial airports and other entry points into this country relied for many years on the revenue they received from duty-free sales? Some of them have asked whether they should now be preparing their infrastructure to have this facility again. Surely my noble friend would agree that this whole point is highly hypothetical, as the British Government are seeking a deal with the EU, not a no deal.

[Lord Bethell]

My noble friend puts it very well: yes indeed, this Government are committed to seeking a deal. That is very much the priority we are focused on at the moment. No-deal Brexit is a contingency for which it is worth planning and on which travel businesses and consumers are naturally very focused. That is why the Treasury has gone to these lengths to try to explain how existing arrangements for travellers will evolve under a no-deal Brexit. The steps taken by the Treasury in this case seem to be extremely reasonable.