Clause 6
Finance (No. 2) Bill
5:30 pm
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
The clause amends the duty rates as set out in primary legislation so that they will be the same as the amounts a person is currently liable to pay. It also provides that certain statutory instruments introduced to adjust the liability to duty on hydrocarbon oils and other fuels will cease to have effect. The clause will bring about a technical change. It simplifies the legislation so that the actual rates of duty for road fuels and oils can be easily established by reference to one piece of legislation, rather than sources of primary and secondary legislation, as at present.
Paul Goodman (Shadow Minister (Childcare), Treasury; Wycombe, Conservative)
As the Financial Secretary said, the clause deals with technical changes relating to hydrocarbon oil duties. I would like to make some general remarks about further changes proposed,but they would be more appropriately made under clause 7. We have no objections to the clause.
Julia Goldsworthy (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Falmouth and Camborne, Liberal Democrat)
We have no issue with this clause. It looks back more than it looks forward and, as the Minister said, it will put on the statute book changes that took place under statutory instruments. We will talk about future changes, but it is more appropriate to deal with those under future clauses.
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West, Labour)
Can the Financial Secretary tell me why the rate of duty on aviation gasoline—avgas—is charged at one half the rate specified for light oil, particularly in light of the environmental concerns that many of us have?
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
As my hon. Friend knows, the freedom of any Government to charge tax on aviation fuel is heavily hedged in by a network of international agreements and conventions, which constrain the policy choices any Government can make in this area.
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland, Labour)
In the light of what the Financial Secretary just said, are the Government taking any steps to re-open or reconsider those international treaties, or to initiate any international negotiations on the matter?
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
We have indeed taken such steps. We have publicly and strongly argued the case that the special protections the aviation industry has in relation to taxation are not warranted. Given the rising concern about climate change and the evidence about the impact that aviation has on producing gases and emissions that contribute to climate change, that is becoming a more pressing challenge. It is one that we must confront internationally, not just because climate change is a global problem, but because any serious solution to the legal constraints that exist in many areas will be found internationally rather than domestically. Owing to difficulty with progress on the tax front, it is also the reason why we have put such a strong emphasis on other measures leading to effective international action that contributes to the climate change challenge. This Government were one of the strongest supporters of establishing and operating the European Union emissions trading scheme, and we remain so. Without wishing to test the limits of what is in order, Mr. O’Hara, we were the first country to set up an economy-wide emissions trading scheme—the forerunner of the EU emissions trading scheme that is widely regarded as an important and effective instrument.