Clause 1 - Rates of tobacco products duty
Finance Bill
10:00 am
Mr John Healey (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
I think that I have been clear. As with a number of decisions about tax policy, concerns about revenue and protecting the public purse form a part of the decision, but important concerns about health and levels of smoking are part of the decision that the Chancellor makes each year about duty levels on tobacco. We are concerned to take into account the potential impact on smuggling and criminal activity. It is a judgment based on an assessment of those factors, with a number of objectives in place for the Government, not simply a question of revenue to the public purse, important though it is.