Clause 10
Finance Bill
9:00 am
Jeremy Browne (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
Good morning, Sir Nicholas. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of my giving up smoking, so I do not know whether I need to declare an interest any longer. If I might say something unfashionable, however, I quite enjoyed smoking and I sometimes regret that I gave it up in the first place. However, giving up was no doubt good for my health.
I have two brief points. First, will the Minister confirm that the purpose of tobacco taxation is twofold—to disincentivise people to buy the product and to raise revenue? Will he also confirm that those two objectives are not incompatible? The second point has already been touched on by the hon. Member for Putney. What is the Government’s assessment of the impact of tobacco taxation on the smuggling of illegal tobacco products? What impact does that have in turn on the legitimate retailing of tobacco products?