UK Parliament / Open data

Northern Ireland Economy

Proceeding contribution from Owen Smith (Labour) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 1 March 2012. It occurred during Adjournment debate on Northern Ireland Economy.
I thought I had another minute until 25 past. We, too, would highlight those risks in relation to corporation tax. It is very unclear what the dynamic effects will be on taxation or what the degree of volatility will be around corporation tax. It is a notoriously volatile tax, and Ministers in Northern Ireland and in the Treasury ought to be very mindful of that before opening this particular Pandora's box. Such an approach is not a silver bullet or the only club in the Chancellor's bag. There are other things he could do. He could expand the NICs holiday; he could consider VAT across the board; or he could consider VAT in respect of the construction industry. Those are all familiar measures to the Minister. He knows that they are part of Labour's five-point plan. If he is to be a wise Treasury Minister, I suggest that he needs to look very hard at them and urge his colleague, the Chancellor, to think about changing course for the good of Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK by adopting some of them in the forthcoming Budget.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
541 c192WH 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
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