The Customs Tariff (Establishment) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Monday 8th December 2025 General Committees

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the Customs Tariff (Establishment) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (S.I., 2025, No. 1199).

This statutory instrument updates the UK’s tariff schedule to correct two errors relating to three tariff lines. These tariff lines apply to imports of specific varieties of basmati rice and tropical fruit and nut jams—if any hon. Member knows what a nut jam is, I look forward to talking to them about it later in the Tea Room. Both errors will be corrected in “The Tariff of the United Kingdom” reference document that sets out the UK global tariff rates for each good. For context, these errors relate to only three out of many thousands of commodity codes.

First, the correction relating to tropical fruit and nut jams reinserts the correct tariff of 14% into the reference document. This tariff has applied in the UK’s tariff schedule since 2021, but in an update earlier this year, the rate was erroneously left blank, leaving it sadly undefined. Before the error was discovered, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs continued to collect the correct 14% tariff rate on imports of these goods. To repay traders who paid this rate, HMRC will shortly start the process for issuing repayments. By correcting this error, the instrument removes uncertainty for traders and ensures that they pay the correct rate as introduced in 2021.

Secondly, the correction relating to specific varieties of basmati rice realigns the tariff rate applying to two commodity codes with the original policy intention, by increasing the rate from 0% to £25 a tonne. These two codes were introduced in 2023—so Conservative and Labour Governments are both responsible for one of these errors—and the tariff rate was erroneously set at 0% instead of £25 a tonne, as applies to other basmati rice codes. Similarly, the new codes did not require traders to certify that their rice was genuine basmati rice, which meant there was a risk that traders could import other varieties of rice under the two new codes, paying a significantly lower tariff rate than they should.

This instrument realigns the tariff with the original policy intention and eliminates the risk of circumvention, ensuring that all traders pay the correct duty. I do want to highlight, however, that less than 1% of basmati rice imports were declared under these two new codes in 2024, so the impact on traders will be minimal. I hope that hon. Members will join me in supporting this instrument, which I commend to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Tomlinson]

The Opposition spokesman is right that the import of tropical fruit and nut jams is a relatively small import stream. To give him and other interested hon. Members a sense of quantity, we expect the total amount owed in repayments to be lower than £7,000—quite a small amount in the grand scheme of things.

The Opposition spokesman mentioned other tax changes in the Budget, which I believe are broadly out of scope of this Committee, but I will correct him about the overnight visitor levy. Mayors will have a choice as to whether to introduce it or not; the Government are not applying the tax ourselves. We believe in devolution and we want to enable mayors to choose whether to make that decision to raise more revenue and invest in their local areas. It is up to them. That is what genuine devolution looks like.

I sadly do not have an answer to the Opposition spokesman’s question about the volume of basmati rice imports, but it is an important topic and my officials will endeavour to write to him on it. In concluding, he reminds me that I may have made the biggest mistake of my political career to date by upsetting Paddington, and I will reflect on that deeply this evening, and in the days and weeks to come.

Question put and agreed to.