Finance Bill

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr. Illsley. May I encapsulate what I want to say on behalf of the official Opposition about the amendment by saying to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) that if his amendment had proposed only an assessment, we would have been tempted to vote for it? However, it does not do only that, so for that reason, as I shall explain, we do not propose to support it. Indeed, I shall explain why we believe that it is irresponsible. Let me begin to consider the alternatives that the hon. Member for Twickenham referred to by making an assessment of air passenger duty itself. Perhaps the best way to start is to see what APD’s most enthusiastic supporters, including the Financial Secretary, say about it. Apparently, APD is ““not an environmental tax”” and is not related to ““a concern about emissions”” or more efficient aircraft and ““not related at all”” to ““more efficient use”” of aircraft that are flying. Who said that? One might have thought that it would be the hon. Member for Twickenham, but it was, in fact, the Financial Secretary when he appeared before the Treasury Select Committee last year. He may have thought, in retrospect, that he was not clear enough, so he came back this year to remove any possible ambiguity. He said that APD was"““a blunt instrument as far as the environment goes. It is not the best policy instrument to try to deal with the environmental impacts of aviation””" and"““not even the best tax instrument to deal with the effects of aviation””." That is the unvarnished view of the Minister whose task it is to sell the doubling of this tax to the House tonight. As the hon. Member for Twickenham said, the Financial Secretary has placed a consultation document in the Library today, which relates to the industry’s view that the way in which air passenger duty defines different classes of travel could send inappropriate signals and create market distortions. In general terms, the Financial Secretary was very plain in his view of APD, so I think that we should return the compliment. We agree with the green critique that he set out. Indeed, we could scarcely put it better ourselves and I do not think that the hon. Member for Twickenham could put it any better either. The main points are well rehearsed: APD is not linked directly to emissions; it does not provide any incentives to use more fuel-efficient aircraft, and so forth. The hon. Member for Twickenham referred to what my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) said when he introduced APD. Indeed, my right hon. and learned Friend did not use the word ““environment”” at all. He said at the time, rather baldly, that air travel was ““under-taxed”” compared to other sectors of the economy. In short, APD is not a green tax, but an aviation tax.