Schedule 37 — Aggregates levy amendments
Orders of the Day — Finance Bill — [2nd Allotted Day]
4:30 pm

Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute, Liberal Democrat)

I, too, support the amendment tabled by Mr. Salmond.

Climate change is leading to higher sea levels and increasingly violent storms, which means that coastal communities are under even greater pressure. Coastal communities on the Atlantic islands suffer from extremely violent storms and are under great threat from coastal erosion. The aggregates tax will simply put a greater burden on Argyll and Bute council and private individuals who want to build coastal defences to protect local villages and roads.

The tax is supposed to have an environmental purpose, but I do not envisage any environmental benefits from imposing a tax on aggregates used for coastal protection. On islands, for example, the aggregates would be quarried and moved, in some cases only a few hundred yards, for use in coastal protection. Alternatives simply do not exist. The Economic Secretary, in his letter to me of 11 June, said that "alternatives do exist." I should certainly like to hear exactly what they are. On small islands like Tiree and the slate islands of Easdale, Luing and Seil, villages are under threat, as the tax puts a greater burden on their efforts at protection.

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