Clause 62 - First year allowances for expenditure wholly for a fence trade
Finance Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Mark Hoban (Fareham, Conservative)
I had not intended to speak in the debate on the amendments to the clause on oil taxation, as it is not an area with which I am particularly familiar. However, the cases that we have heard put on the impact of this change in taxation on the oil industry have been polar opposites. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart suggested in his customary style that the business community is crying wolf over this matter. He was ably supported in that case by the Minister. Conservative Members have
taken an alternative view—that the changes will have a negative impact on the oil industry and could lead to a considerable loss of jobs and investment.
It is important that we continue to monitor the impact on investment and jobs of the changes in oil tax. The amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs, which seek to provide for a report on the impact of this measure on revenues, is important and we should all support it. The oil fields of the North sea are an important asset that should be exploited fully in the country's interests, not purely in the economic interests of the country but in the interest of those who work in the North sea.
I declare an interest, in that my brother-in-law is a deep-sea diver working in the oil sector. I am acutely aware, based on his patterns of employment, of how fragile the investment in oil fields is, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) said. When the economics are good, my brother-in-law's services are in great demand both in the North sea and elsewhere; when the economics are bad, he has—to use a phrase of a former Member of this House—more time to spend with his family.
For my brother-in-law's sake and for the sake of all those who work in the sector, it is important that the Government continue to monitor closely the impact of this legislation. The Government would be failing in their duty to ensure that the oil fields of the North sea are fully exploited if they refuse to support the amendment.