Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — amendment of the law

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 5:37 pm on 24 March 2010.

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Photo of David Heath David Heath Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 5:37, 24 March 2010

There is a lot to be said for that, but we are not there yet. I am suggesting a cheap and easy solution that could be instituted immediately, and I would love to see that happen.

My second, brief point is that I notice in the detail of the Budget papers that aggregate tax has gone up by 10p again. Aggregate tax was theoretically intended to be an environmental tax, but it has never acted as one. It has never prevented the use of primary aggregates; all it has done is increase their cost. Part of the justification was that the money would be recycled into quarrying areas such as the east Mendips, where it could mitigate some of the environmental effects of quarrying, but that money has now been taken away. Now, this money is spread out in an amorphous way across any body that thinks it might have a useful purpose for it. We are not even getting the direct benefit of the aggregates levy, and it is time the policy was revisited.

My main bone of contention-[Hon. Members: "Cider!"] I make no apologies for being a clichéd Somerset Member-I am going to stand up for the cider makers and apple growers of my constituency, because if I do not, who will? To increase cider duty by 10 per cent., as has been suggested, and for the leader of the Conservative party to stand up and boast that it was his idea, which the Government had filched, are things I find very difficult to take.

I do not know what the Chancellor of the Exchequer means by saying that there is anomaly when it comes to cider. The anomaly can be found in the fact that people have work, jobs and livelihoods in my part of the country, where this is a significant industry, and that the direct result of this change today will be to reverse the expansion of the industry over the past few years, to put people out of work, to close down cider makers and to grub up orchards. That is a disastrous consequence of an ill thought through policy.

If the Government's intention was to deal with the sort of high-strength industrial alcohol that has barely seen an apple in its lifetime-that has only seen a little bit of concentrate-they should have done that. Let them deal with the stuff that is sold in the supermarkets too cheaply. However, what they have done instead will affect the artisan traditional cider maker. It will put them out of business. It could have been avoided if there had been a quota or a volume limit, so that the tax did not apply if production was below a certain volume. They decided not to do that; they did not listen. They do not understand that cider orchards take a long time to plant and to bring into production, and that the return and yield on the capital takes time to mature. All of that has been put at risk by what the Government have decided today.

I have precedence on my side. In my constituency, near Curry Rivel, there is a monument called the Burton Pynsent monument. It was erected by William Pitt in thanks to Sir William Pynsent, who had given over the estate to William Pitt as a thank you for opposing cider tax back in the 18th century-