Finance Bill

I certainly agree that the proposals are pretty chaotic. Again, I note that there is no substantial amendment setting out Liberal Democrat policies in any form. However, I will not carry on down that road. I have made my point, and no one has got to their feet to say that the Institute for Fiscal Studies is wrong. We agree with the Liberals that there should be an assessment, but we do not agree that there should be a delay, because a delay would prevent the aviation tax proposal from coming into effect. For the Liberals, different considerations apply, and I shall explain why. After the next election, there may be a Conservative majority, a Labour majority—personally, I am rather doubtful about that—or no majority at all in the House, but it is safe to say that there will not be a Liberal Democrat majority. I shall repeat that, in case anyone wants to challenge it: I do not believe that there will be a Liberal Democrat majority in the House. Unlike the two main parties, the Liberal Democrats are not overburdened with expectations of great responsibility. I presume that if they put their amendment to the vote this evening and it is defeated, they will vote against the clause, just as they voted against the measures in it at the conclusion of the Budget debate. In other words, tonight, they can cheerfully vote against the principle of aviation taxation, although they have no workable alternative to propose, knowing that they will not have to live with the consequences in office. That is not an approach that we can take. Unhappy as we are with air passenger duty as it stands, and with the Chancellor’s handling of it, we simply do not believe that we can responsibly vote not to implement an aviation tax that we were responsible for designing, either by opposing the clause or by supporting the Liberal amendment. The House has a choice tonight on APD, however flawed the tax may be in principle, and however faulty the Chancellor may be in practice. Members can either vote with the Liberals against the principle of aviation taxation, with no workable alternative anywhere in sight, or they can take the responsible course, and take a principled stand against the short-termism and opportunism that the amendment represents.