Andrew Percy: Honest debate needed on the impact of green taxes

My views have changed slightly over time, however. APD can easily be dismissed as a tax that can be avoided, and for some that is true, but for many businesses and individuals, it is a tax that cannot be avoided.

Since joining the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, I have been growing concerned about the impact APD is having on our regional airports, especially after a meeting with representatives of Continental Airlines, who explained in great detail and depth the impact that it has had on the company.

Heathrow will always be successful, but airports such as mine – Humberside, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Doncaster (Robin Hood) – have struggled, and continue to struggle, to find new routes as it is a lot cheaper to fly from Schiphol or Dublin.

When I was looking to book a holiday recently, I found it would have been cheaper for me to fly from Leeds or Manchester to Dublin and then connect on to the ongoing flight. That is counter-intuitive and, it would seem, a little perverse. Although I am no economist, it is clear to me that that is not good for our economy. It is time that we looked at the issue.

I accept that there is a take of £3bn from air passenger duty. I have not had a chance to look through the methodology of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report or to analyse that in any great depth, but there is a solution to the problem of how to find £3bn: it is called leaving the European Union.

I do understand that any reduction in APD would have an impact on the Treasury. That is why it is time for a proper review to establish the extent of that impact.

When people made arguments about beer duty in the past, the response from the Treasury was always “This will cost us money. How will we make up the difference?” That has been turned on its head now, as we seem to have accepted that a cut in beer duty can bring in more money.

I remember air passenger duty being presented as a green tax. I know there has been some discussion about whether it is a green tax, a light green tax or a pale green tax. It certainly was presented as a green tax and many people have argued that it is such a tax, so I hope that it will be in the mix in any review, in line with the Prime Minister’s statements about wanting to review green taxes and being honest about green taxes.

It strikes me that we will not have a particularly honest debate with the public about APD or about energy bills unless we are prepared to open up the whole debate about green taxes and their impact not just on energy bills, but on our whole economy.

I represent an area with many carbon-intensive industries. We are still waiting to hear what is going to happen with the assistance for them. Green taxes are having a massive impact on them and an increasing number of people feel that the country
is being hamstrung by those
taxes.

If we can throw APD into that discussion, all the better. People who use regional airports are most affected and in my area incomes are much lower than in other parts of the country, so APD has a disproportionate impact on the poorest parts of the country.

*Andrew Percy is the Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole who spoke in Parliament on air passenger duty. This is an edited version.