UK Parliament / Open data

Holiday Pricing

Proceeding contribution from George Mudie (Labour) in the House of Commons on Monday, 24 February 2014. It occurred during Backbench debate and e-petition debate on Holiday Pricing.

I will catch the hon. Lady’s eye in a moment, if I may. My wife is a head teacher and has been a teacher since I married her. Every family holiday that we have taken has been at the most expensive time. We were both salaried, so we could afford it, but I understand what happens to families on the breadline or families struggling with their mortgage or short-term unemployment. If they have children and want to take a holiday—the figures show that it does not matter whether it is abroad or in this country—they will face inflated prices in the summer holiday.

We are talking about doing things for schools and how we would work out whether to give kids a week off and whether we would need regulations, but I do not know what regulations we would need to regulate prices. The Labour Government tried that in the 1960s and failed miserably. There are offshoots to the issue, because with railways, we have the choice of travelling at peak times or off-peak. The difference in prices is clear. If someone is booking a hotel in London, a Tuesday will have a different price from a weekend. That is business and supply and demand.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
576 c16WH 
Session
2013-14
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
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