Air Passenger Duty

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks. All hon. Members feel very strongly about the r...

I commend my hon. Friend for introducing the debate. Is it not a question of making the UK compet...

APD has a detrimental impact on our competitiveness, which is why we are calling for the economic...

I commend the hon. Lady for introducing this extremely important debate. I represent Aberdeen air...

The right hon. Gentleman touches on both the cost of APD and our competitiveness. A 2011 York Avi...

Is the hon. Lady aware that the Scottish airports consortium has published a report today that sa...

The hon. Lady demonstrates the scale of the challenge, and why we need a review.

I am sure ...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on introducing the debate. Does she agree that APD can act as a bar...

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. That is part of the challenge of our wider aviation polic...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is being generous in giving way. APD will be considered by t...

The Davies commission has a role. When considering the future of APD, we must remember where we s...

Businesses in Slough tell me that they have invested in the town I represent because of its proxi...

The hon. Lady makes a valid point. I have no doubt that right hon. and hon. Members recognise the...

The hon. Lady is making a great speech. Does she agree that APD, as a gateway tax, sends a signal...

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point on how counter-productive taxes such as APD are when it co...

Many of the businesses in my constituency are based there because of the proximity of Heathrow ai...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. As I said earlier, this tax is seen as counter-produ...

The hon. Lady is making a compelling case. The Irish Republic has announced that despite the fact...

rose—

Order. We have a lot of Members who wish to speak and they should recognise that if they have alr...

I take on board the hon. Lady’s point.

As well as compromising trade, the cost of APD is fe...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. She talks about Essex with passion, which ...

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments.

We would all like to see travellers from Brazil, R...

That figure would be a lot higher if the family were going via one of the regional airports and c...

The hon. Gentleman makes his point clearly. APD is having a wider multiplier effect.

If tha...

rose—

Order. I am introducing an eight-minute limit. I hope that I will not have to reduce that, but in...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on securing the debate and leading it as ...

Like me, my right hon. Friend is a former Minister; in my case, I was a Minister for tourism. Is ...

My right hon. Friend was a very able Minister for tourism and he did a superb job. He is right: A...

AirAsia X also stopped flying from Gatwick to Kuala Lumpur, and cited exactly the same reason—APD...

The hon. Gentleman makes it clear that this is an issue not only for Manchester but for other air...

The right hon. Gentleman is making precisely the point that I wanted to make. The way APD is impl...

The Treasury has already considered the argument for regional variations, which has been made bef...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Paul Goggins), wi...

I am listening carefully to this important debate and I have heard a lot from my constituents abo...

That is absolutely right. It is also important to note, as the hon. Member for Belfast East (Naom...

The hon. Gentleman seems to be talking as though every tax has a similar effect. It is quite clea...

I do not always agree with the hon. Gentleman, but I am pleased to agree with him about that. Thi...

The hon. Gentleman said that Northern Ireland is competing with the Republic of Ireland, but sure...

That is absolutely right. Unlike the hon. Gentleman, I hope we will not be competing internationa...

I congratulate the hon. Members for Witham (Priti Patel) and for Crawley (Henry Smith) on securin...

Given the quote from the managing director of Glasgow airport that the hon. Gentleman has just re...

The hon. Gentleman might well be shocked by this—indeed, I expect him to fall off his seat—but I ...

Surely the idea behind devolving APD would be to cut it to make Scotland more competitive.

Order. I warned the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar Mr MacNeil) that he would be at the bott...

In order not to prolong the debate, and to give the hon. Gentleman time to speak later, I will no...

Is my hon. Friend aware that travel agents throughout Scotland—and, I suspect, in the north-east,...

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, but he is eating into my time and I have to be careful in t...

This debate is most important for the well-being of the British economy. I would like sincerely t...

Although the Exchequer may be raising between 2 billion and £3 billion from air passenger duty, i...

My hon. Friend has anticipated what I was about to say. The Netherlands scrapped air passenger du...

My hon. Friend is making a very articulate case not only on Gatwick’s behalf but in favour of the...

My hon. Friend is right. Air passenger duty is a bad tax for the UK as a whole, regardless of whi...

The hon. Gentleman is making a very good case. It is estimated that air passenger duty raises £2....

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right.

Members have suggested that we adopt some form of r...

I support the motion in the name of the hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel) and others. Aberdeen...

Does the hon. Lady agree with her colleague the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe) tha...

Whether or not APD is devolved to Scotland, the problem we face is the level of APD and the way i...

I think it might be.

It might be, but it could be treated differently down here, too. The problem I have with devolvin...

rose—

Mr Deputy Speaker is shaking his head, so perhaps I should not allow the hon. Gentleman to come b...

Most Members have made the point about the value of the aviation industry to the UK as a whole. I...

My hon. Friend is making an articulate case about the impact on the economy of Great Britain, but...

If I wanted to use one word to describe the banding, it would be chaotic. That is what it is. We ...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. It strikes me that at the heart of the debate there is ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and his point leads me swiftly to a conclusion. The sums have...

rose—

Order. The time limit is being reduced to seven minutes.

3.29 pm

I do not know whether I should thank you for that, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I do thank you for allo...

I add my congratulations to the Members who secured this debate, not least because the motion is ...

Would the hon. Gentleman support the devolution of air passenger duty to Scotland, as some Labour...

I almost thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, but it is a bit of a broken record and tangen...

I will be relatively brief, because many of the general arguments about air passenger duty have a...

I welcome this debate and the motion tabled by the Backbench Business Committee and moved by my h...

I represent Portsmouth, which is quite a deprived area, and my constituents are concerned about k...

My hon. Friend puts her point incredibly well. This issue has led to more than 200,000 communicat...

I apologise in advance to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and to the general public, for the repetitive n...

rose—

Order. To accommodate the remaining Members, I am shaving a minute more off the time. The limit i...

I do not intend to rehearse the arguments that have been made so eloquently by several hon. Membe...

I am pleased to participate in today’s debate. I am a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Comm...

Order.

4.14 pm

I have a large Caribbean community in Mitcham and Morden, many of whom moved to Britain 20, 30 or...

I was first alerted to the air passenger duty issue about four years ago, long before the fair ta...

There is another impact of the banding. Alan Glen, who runs an independent travel agency in my co...

I am grateful for that intervention. I was just going on to talk about the effects not only on fa...

My hon. Friend is presenting a compelling argument. He may be interested to know that in the last...

That is a good point.

The fair tax on flying campaign was organised very efficiently, but I...

I note that no Member has spoken in favour of APD, which I think says a lot. In the midst of a re...

If APD were devolved to Scotland, and Scotland then cut the tax, would there not be consequences ...

If APD were devolved to Scotland, the economy would grow. I should like all taxes to be devolved,...

I will not be churlish, so let me say only that it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Na...

If a passenger uses the same airline—British Airways, for example—from Scotland to London and the...

My hon. Friend makes a valuable point and I know that he has raised that question on a number of ...

We had an excellent debate earlier on beer duty and now we are discussing APD. I am pleased that,...

I hope that the Minister recognises that his words are extremely disappointing to many of my cons...

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I am pleased to hear that she has been glued to her ...

The hon. Gentleman has spoken about having a revenue-neutral tax. When the Government cut taxatio...

Absolutely. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the effects on taxation were taken together and ...

Would it not be reasonable, though, to have a study, as proposed in the motion, to see the impact...

I thank my hon. Friend. I will come to that point in a moment.

As I said, we have no plans ...

Before the hon. Gentleman concludes, does he accept that it is grossly unfair for British people ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman. We have looked at these issues in the consultation, and I believe tha...

I thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions to this powerful debate in which ...