Oral Answers to Questions

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We want to ensure that this is done fairly. Under the present Government, the richest pay a higher proportion of income tax than they did under the last Labour Government. Figures published this morning by HMRC contain, for the first time, the income tax data for 2013-14, which was when the 50p rate was reduced to 45p. The data reveal that in that year there was an £8 billion increase in revenues from additional-rate taxpayers, which completely defies the predictions made by the Labour party at the time, and shows that we have lower, competitive taxes that are paid by all.

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

T4. Figures from the Public and Commercial Services Union show that 2,000 HMRC staff in Scotland face redundancy, including 150 experienced and dedicated people in Inverness. At the same time, the HMRC overtime bill is about £6 million a month. Can the Chancellor explain to my constituents how that makes any sense at all?

[Mr Gauke]

HMRC is engaged in changes that will be focused on 13 regional centres across the United Kingdom. The same proportion of its work force will continue to be in Scotland, which is actually a larger percentage than the population of Scotland. We are seeking to improve the efficiency of HMRC, and we believe that regional centres will enable it to achieve more for less. It is already bringing in more money and a better rate of return than we have ever had before.

HMRC Office Closures

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Tuesday 24th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

The hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian C. Lucas) mentioned that this announcement had been a surprise. The skilled staff of the HMRC office in Inverness were anticipating some changes, but instead they received a hammer blow. The plan to close 137 local offices and replace them with 13 regional centres by 2027 hid the news that that will happen in Inverness in 2017-18—hardly time to draw breath on the decision. HMRC employs 8,330 people in Scotland, which is 13% of all UK HMRC staff—hardly a dividend worth retaining if that is the way we are to be treated.

The Public and Commercial Services Union has said that 11,000 full-time equivalent staff posts had been cut from HMRC since 2010, and that any further cuts would be “absolutely devastating.” Its general secretary, Mark Serwotka, stated:

“Closing this many offices would pose a significant threat to the operation of HMRC, its service to the public and the working lives of staff, and the need for parliamentary scrutiny of the plans is undeniable and urgent.”

I am delighted that the SNP has initiated this debate in the House to provide just that.

In my constituency, more than 50 staff face losing their jobs. Many are women and over 50 years old, and—most importantly—all are skilled in dealing with complex tax problems for people across the UK. Not only do they save money for HMRC and the taxpayer, but they save businesses from going into administration and provide people with vital advice. I have met those workers, and I was impressed with how flexible they can be, and how they operate in a virtual team. They have been retrained many times in the past.

The Government talk about creating a more modern HMRC, but why have they not taken time to look at Inverness, the fastest growing city in Scotland? The hon. Member for Dudley South (Mike Wood) spoke about the expense of London, but there is nothing expensive about Inverness. It has great people and a great facility, yet that is being taken away. That is not the best way to deal with the issue. There is no evidence of any assessment of the impact on staff with disabilities or caring responsibilities, or of the social, economic and environmental effects of this move.

[Chris Stephens]

Do not the points raised by Members from across the House show that, given the lack of a basic impact assessment, the proposals should be ripped up and we should start again?

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[Drew Hendry]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who is the vice-chair of the parliamentary Public and Commercial Services Union group and knows what he is talking about. There has been no assessment. Skilled workers in my constituency have dedicated their lives and careers to working for HMRC, and they have been left cold by this announcement. They have been hung out to dry. It is absolutely vital that there be a review focusing on the people who have spent many years training to do a job that it is very hard to do from a call centre elsewhere. To exploit their skills would be the right thing to do; to dismiss the skills and the people and throw them on the scrapheap is the wrong thing to do.

It is ludicrous for such a massive change to be made without any public or parliamentary consultation. The Minister has an opportunity to look again at this proposal. From around the Chamber he has heard, and will continue to hear, the stories of people who have devoted themselves to making HMRC work. There are still huge challenges ahead for HMRC. It is time to halt the plans and do something different: something that values the people working in the service, values the collection of revenue, and makes sure that the decision made is sensible for the people of Scotland and all the nations of the UK.

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[Roger Mullin]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. There are many hon. Members on these Benches who could say similar things about their colleges and the way in which they are served.

The Minister claimed that part of the reason for the proposed changes was to create greater efficiency. Well, that would be clever! As many Members have said, we currently have a rather inefficient way of gathering taxes. There are telephone calls that cannot be answered and letters that sometimes cannot even be opened, let alone responded to, yet the way we are supposed to solve this problem is to cut, cut and cut again. That does not make any sense.

The Minister also indicated that some of the closures would happen in such a way that it would be viable for the people affected to move from their current location to a new one.

[Drew Hendry]

Try that in Inverness!

[Roger Mullin]

My hon. Friend has just stolen my line. I was about to say, “Try that in Aberdeen.”

Royal Bank of Scotland

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Guto Bebb]

I am absolutely aware of the problems with Ulster Bank—not only computer glitches but undoubtedly questionable past behaviour—and I associate myself with the hon. Gentleman’s comments.

When hon. Members talk about the need to sell RBS shares at a profit, it is important to bear in mind the context. The intervention was not just to make a profit; it was an intervention to ensure that we protected the UK economy. It gave people confidence in the financial system.

We need to address some of the concerns specific to RBS from a small business perspective. I speak as the former chair of the all-party group on the mis-selling of interest rate derivatives, which now has the much snappier name of the all-party group on small business banking. I would be delighted if I never had to speak about RBS again in my entire life. I would delighted if I did not have to talk about the mis-selling of financial products for small businesses ever again. Yet again, as I mentioned earlier, I was with the FCA for three hours. I spent four hours in a redress meeting between a small business and RBS, and I have had various meetings with RBS staff in relation to some of the articles that have appeared in the press during the week. There are still issues that need to be resolved. The Treasury needs to have confidence that when it talks about moving RBS back into the private sector, it does so with a full grasp of the problems that RBS still faces.

One concern is that the excellent Treasury Committee report into small business banking and finance for small businesses has not, as yet, received a response from the Treasury. I asked a question about this, but as yet no response has been forthcoming. The report makes very critical comments about RBS, among others, and the potential liabilities still faced by RBS, among others. I am therefore at a loss as to why the decision has been taken to return RBS to private hands when the Treasury has not even responded to the concerns raised by the Treasury Committee. I would like to see that issue at rest.

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, when looking at new procedures and rules for transferring the bank back into private hands, we should be looking at ensuring that there is the opportunity to bring criminal prosecutions if people are behaving criminally with assets such as the Royal Bank?

[Guto Bebb]

If criminal behaviour has been identified, there should be criminal sanctions. My hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) stated clearly that the banking issue would not be resolved in the eyes of the British public until somebody had gone to jail. I am not advocating sending any innocent person to prison, but if criminal acts have been identified they should be pursued in the same way as any other UK citizen would face criminal sanction if they had committed a criminal act.

[Drew Hendry]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there needs to be provision for regulations, and that if jobs and livelihoods are put at risk because of the actions of those making decisions in banks, they should be part of the new regulatory process?

[Guto Bebb]

I would be careful about offering an opinion, because I do not think that risk should be criminalised; as small businesses understand, risk is inherent in business. If there is a clear effort to manipulate the situation, that is different, but risk is inherent. Most small businesses understand, when they take out a loan from the bank or ask for financial support, there is a risk involved if they cannot repay the money. I would want to see the definition and the detail before hazarding a further opinion.

On RBS, my concerns were touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (William Wragg). Now is a good time to mention the role of RBS’s global restructuring group, which, as a constituency MP dealing with businesses distressed by the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products, I have come across several times. The Tomlinson report was worthy of more attention than it received from both Front-Bench teams. I was fortunate enough in the previous Parliament to secure a debate in Westminster Hall on this issue, but I was disappointed with the response to the allegations in the report from both the Treasury and Opposition Front-Bench spokespersons. The report by Clifford Chance into the global restructuring group was given a very narrow focus by RBS—I am not saying we should dismiss it, but there is a question, given its narrow focus, about whether it is indicative of a problem with the group.

Of greater concern is the FCA’s decision to instigate a report into the group’s activities and the apparent further delay to that report. Given the sums of money at stake in the allegations of misbehaviour within the group, there is a question about whether the Government should be returning shares to the private sector; we do not know whether there will be significant liabilities arising from the FCA report. I have not been particularly complimentary of the FCA thus far, but I understand that the report has highlighted areas of significant concern about the group’s activities, so it is odd that the Government are proposing to sell RBS shares without first knowing about any potential liabilities arising from the report. I think there is much more to investigate, and I am glad that the FCA has finally concluded that that is worth doing, but the Government should be aware of potential issues arising from that report which could have a significant effect on the decision—and the perceived correctness of that decision—to return RBS to the private sector. I leave that word of warning with the Minister, and I would be delighted if she could comment. If she has a timescale for the report that is better than the one I heard this morning, I would be pleased to hear it.

I turn now to the sale of interest rate hedging products. This morning, I met a member of the RBS redress team whom I considered to be honourable, hard-working and doing his best for the businesses affected while trying to protect the bank’s interests. As a believer in the free market, I fully accept that if someone enters into a financial transaction, they accept a degree of risk, but they also expect the bank to work on their behalf, not against them, and to have their best interests at heart, rather than the interests of a commission-receiving salesman. When I meet someone who works for the bank in that capacity, I take them very seriously, and I understand that they are doing their best to deal with a complex situation.

None the less, the review into the banks that were affected, and particularly RBS, still leaves grounds for concern. Well over 50% of the derivative sales included in the FCA redress scheme were sold by RBS, so there is a huge potential liability if the review is shown to be inadequate. The FCA, in its response to the Treasury Select Committee’s report, clearly stated that it was minded to undertake a review of its own redress scheme, once all legal action had been completed. I am slightly concerned by that. If there are concerns about the implementation of its own redress scheme, I am surprised it is not willing to look at that until all legal action relating to the interest rate swap scandal has been completed. That means that the regulator is almost abdicating its responsibility to the courts. The whole point of the redress scheme was to avoid the need for small businesses without the financial resources to have to resort to the courts. They simply do not have the money. I am concerned, therefore, that the FCA seems to be admitting the need to review its own scheme but is not willing to do so until all court cases have been completed.

Given that the FCA is at least admitting the need to acknowledge the concerns of the Treasury Select Committee, I am concerned that we might be returning RBS to the marketplace without being aware of liabilities that might arise from the redress scheme being found, to put it kindly, to be less than perfect. The fact that a significantly greater percentage of RBS cases have resulted in a “swap for a swap” outcome—where it is found that someone has been mis-sold this toxic financial product, but it is concluded that they would have ended up buying one anyhow—is a matter of concern. I am concerned in particular that the conditions of sanction, which are questionable, that were used by RBS to ensure that small businesses bought the protection are now being used to justify the finding that there was a legitimate condition of lending associated with the loans in question. I am not excusing any of the other banks involved, but RBS still has questions to answer. That is not to question the integrity of the team doing the work on behalf of RBS, but they are relying on questionable and concerning paperwork and legal excuses, and those concerns are shared by the Treasury Select Committee. They should be shared by those on the Treasury Bench as well.

Finally, on the stories in this week’s newspapers about the allegation of falsifying documents, it is important to take those allegations with a degree of caution, because they need to be tested and looked at. I nevertheless believe that the discrepancies between the paperwork made available through subject access reviews and other paperwork already supplied to small businesses undoubtedly raise questions.

I have been fortunate enough to have been subjected to several four-hour presentations highlighting discrepancies between, for example, the transcript of telephone calls held by RBS and the recorded transcripts held by the business. I grant that when a transcript of a telephone call is made, it will not be perfect, but when the RBS version is 94 words long and the business’s version is 594 words longer, one has to ask whether it is simply a mistake or whether something worse is going on. These are very serious issues that need to be looked at.

Similarly, I have seen emails in which half a sentence has disappeared and a capital letter has appeared in the middle of a sentence, turning its meaning on its head. Again, mistakes happen when information is transcribed, but I am not aware of mistakes happening when information disappears and capital letters appear. As I say, these allegations are extremely concerning. They are still allegations; they need to be looked at carefully. RBS has agreed that some serious issues need to be looked at, and I am confident that, in many cases, RBS will be able to explain why these discrepancies have occurred. I sincerely hope that it will be able to do that, because the thought that information kept by the banks about small businesses has been fabricated is truly shocking.

Let me return to my main point. RBS was brought into governmental control in order to save it from itself and make sure that the UK financial sector was protected—and, more importantly, that the citizens of this country were protected from what could have been a much worse outcome for our financial sector. In addition to ensuring that RBS is back to financial health, we have an obligation to make sure that behaviour within RBS has been rectified. I continue to believe that there is a question mark about that behaviour, and while it persists, I think we should be very careful before privatising or returning more of RBS to the private sector.

--- Later in debate ---

[Clive Lewis]

I entirely agree. When we listen to the debate, we begin to feel that the Government are acting not in the interests of consumers, but in their vested banking interests. That seems to be their priority. We seem to be back to the pre-2008 mentality that the banks should be given whatever they want and we can have economic growth built on a house-price bubble fuelled by an oversized banking system without worrying too much about rebalancing our economy towards manufacturing or what we will do when the whole house of cards inevitably collapses.

We should consider, however, the effects on ordinary people like Andi Gibbs in my constituency who owned a business pre-crash. He was in effect mis-sold products by RBS and ended up with the now infamous global restructuring group. He not only lost his business; he lost his home, his wife, his family and his mental health. This is the price people pay when we do not get the banking system right. We now have a fantastic opportunity to get it right, and we must not squander it.

[Drew Hendry]

I made a point earlier about provisions for consequences for the people who take action that means that others with houses and businesses suffer through the malpractice the hon. Gentleman is describing. Does he agree that now is the time to look at having regulations that would put in place such consequences for people who take such action?

[Clive Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, and I agree we should be looking closely at the retribution that should be dished out to those who in effect ruin people’s lives; that is right and proper.

Successive attempts to persuade banks to lend more to small business have fallen flat, with some, like the enterprise finance guarantee scheme, actually being abused by RBS to exploit its small business customers. There could hardly be a clearer illustration of the fact that we have failed to get to the root causes of the problems in our banking system. The Chancellor and the banks may want us to move on and forget about the crash, but the British people have not forgotten. Whether it is mis-selling of PPI, mistreatment of small businesses or rigging the LIBOR and foreign exchange markets, they do not see that banks have really changed.

The warning signs of another crash are building. We may not have long to make sure our economy is better prepared than it was the last time. The Bank for International Settlements recently warned that we are living in

“a world in which debt levels are too high, productivity growth too weak and financial risks too threatening.”

In the UK, household debt is rising again, with the Office for Budget Responsibility predicting that, by the end of this Parliament, it will be higher than it was in 2008. Just last week, UBS warned that the London housing market is the most overvalued in the world and is in “bubble-risk territory”. In other words, the so-called recovery is not a sustainable one based on higher wages, higher productivity and creating new green jobs. Instead it is being driven by consumer spending propped up by ever-growing household debt, and fuelled by a banking system that still finds it more profitable to inflate house prices than to lend to productive businesses.

Having successfully rebranded a crisis caused by too much private debt as a crisis caused by too much public debt, the Government are now presiding over a new debt bubble that threatens to do exactly the same as what happened in 2008. Maybe instead of continuing to rely on the same institutions that got us into a mess in 2008, we should be promoting new types of bank, with ownership structures and business models that clearly distinguish them from the status quo: banks that are not beholden to the need to maximise profits, but which have a social mission and can genuinely put customers and the economy first. Our stake in RBS gives us a unique opportunity to do this.

When the history of this period is written, will the current Government be remembered as one who learned the right lessons from the crash, or as one who turned a blind eye and squandered the opportunity to build a better banking system?

Tax Credits

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

I shall not go too far down that road. Let me simply say that middle-class pensioners are now paying one of the highest effective income tax rates in the country. People who have saved a lot for their pensions and gone above the lifetime allowance must pay 55%. I think we ought to be a bit careful, because if we let the Treasury get at that deferred income, it will take as much as it can.

The third option, which I think is probably the winner—although not by itself; it would have to be modified—is to stage the cuts. I believe that the right hon. Member for Birkenhead lit upon this strategy as well. The cuts would be staged to match movements in the minimum wage and the living wage so that people would not lose.

The Government’s figures for 2020 seem broadly to balance, although they are not perfect. We shall have to work through the mitigation carefully, and that is where the impact statement comes in. Those figures do two things. They protect the working poor, but they also achieve the deficit reduction, which is vital. If we hit the deficit reduction target by 2020—this point was made by my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland)—each saving of £4 billion a year is not critical. It represents less than 1% of the economy. The really critical issue is how the financial markets see the position. The financial markets do not care about the trajectory from here to 2020; the fact that we get there is good enough. We do not need to worry about the £4 billion a year in between, but we do need to worry about the final outcome. My argument, therefore, is that we should cut the tax credits in step with the minimum wage and the living wage.

The criterion is what is important here. The criterion that the Government must meet is that there should be no losses for the least well off in any of the three intervening years. The poorest, the working poor and their dependants cannot afford to lose one pound. I was never a great fan of the minimum wage, but I was persuaded that it was worthwhile.

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mr Davis]

I am afraid not. I have already taken two interventions, and if I take another, I shall lose time.

One of the things that persuaded me that the minimum wage was worth while was the information in social data that it cut crime. We must not lose sight of the social impact of changes such as this: the distress caused to families, the breaking up of families, and the pushing of families towards food banks and, worse, towards loan sharks and petty crime. We have to think about those things, because there is a cost to them as well.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies told the Work and Pensions Committee, which is chaired by the right hon. Member for Birkenhead, that the Government could hit the 2020 target on a staged route. That is what we should aim for. We can achieve the fiscal target, while still remaining faithful to Conservative “one nation” aims. That, after all, has been the leitmotiv of the last few months for us. If we do that, the Chancellor will have good reason to be proud of his achievement.

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[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

The hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) was right to talk about the rush to get involved in a policy. It is a pleasure to be in the Chamber today for that rarest of treats, where we all furiously agree on the right thing to do, which is to make a radical change to the approach. It is like seeing people who have been slumbering at the back of the bus awakening to see that the driver is about to drive them straight into a lorry that is coming the other way. The tone of the contributions has been terrific, and it is worth repeating as it is so rare in this environment. I was cynical and sceptical before I was elected, but it is great to be in the Chamber for this debate.

Let us talk about the basics. A lot has been said today that makes sense. We all know that there must be a change, as the policy means that more families will be driven below the poverty line and more children will be in poverty. There is a clear dawning of awareness that the minimum wage—what Government Members are calling the living wage, which it clearly is not—will not bridge the gap. It especially is not going to bridge the gap that will be created for people under the age of 25, who will not have the comfort of getting even the diminished living wage or minimum wage that is coming in, because it will not apply to them.

The right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) talked about the minimum wage cutting crime, and my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway (Richard Arkless) spoke about the effect of it on changing people’s circumstances. If we create a bigger division in earnings between young people and those over the age of 25, we may well find there is a problem. We should be aware of that. I do not believe that the outcomes that will be created by the Government’s policy have been taken into account by certain Members in this House.

The Office for National Statistics has provided the Scottish Government today with figures that show that in Scotland 250,000 families will lose £1,500 a year right away. As we heard earlier, that rises to £3,000 when the measures are fully implemented. The Centre for Social Justice already puts household debt in the UK at £34 billion. That devastating cocktail is a possible outcome if we do not make a change to the policy.

When families are put under pressure, the effects can be devastating, with overwhelming stress affecting mental health and work performance. We should be aware of the impact on productivity further down the line. The strain on personal relationships resulting from the measure could provide some of the stepping stones for more children going into care and so on. We will see the effects of these measures when they hit people. None of us will have to stare into an empty cupboard. None of us will sit in the cold in our own homes because we have no choice. None of us, as a result of the Government’s measures, will look at a pile of bills, afraid to open them.

My constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey has a unique problem of being a low-wage, low-unemployment community. Perhaps that is not unique, but it is a particular problem for us. In my constituency, 7,100 children will be pushed further into poverty. Low wages, coupled with the increased cost of living, will push 210,000 children in Scotland into poverty. In the highlands we have had a drain of young people over the decades. We have encouraged people to stay and to have larger families, yet the two-children cap is going to punish highland families disproportionately. I know that will affect other constituencies in exactly the same way, so our big family tradition is being attacked. We heard China mentioned earlier. This is an effect almost amounting to population control for us.

The limit to two children will cost £7.2 million, the removal of the family element £4.02 million, and the taper increase £7.77 million. We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) about a range of measures that could be taken to put some money back into the system. It does not all have to come from the welfare budget. That is an ideological approach. We can make sure that we are not wasting money where we do not have to waste it.

It is an obscenity—it has to be repeated—an obscenity to seriously consider spending £167 billion on weapons of mass destruction that we can never use because if we do, what follows is mutually assured destruction. It is mad to consider using them.

[Mr MacNeil]

My hon. Friend hits on an interesting point about the waste of money on the weapons of mass destruction programme of the British Government. They wrap themselves up in patriotism and speak of great Britain. The patriotism is never ending, but the sad fact is that we are dealing here with a time when all Britons cannot live greatly. Some Britons will be in terrible poverty, but the Government’s patriotism goes only to weapons of mass destruction. O that their patriotism would reach the people and the poor of the country as well!

[Drew Hendry]

I could not agree more. When we look at the choices that we are asked to make in this place—this was mentioned earlier—we see that the effect will be on people further down the line. That kind of nonsensical excess, when we are talking about people looking into empty cupboards or sitting in the cold, is simply obscene.

I am grateful that the motion in the House of Lords on Monday night has allowed us to have this debate, but it only delays the measures—one swallow does not make a summer. If we want savings that can make a difference, and if we want a better system of democracy in this country, we must get rid of the other place. We should not have an inflated second Chamber, with people claiming £300 a day while other people are having their benefits and tax credits cut.

[Mr MacNeil]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is being generous in giving way. Was he as surprised as I was to learn from a Twitter feed that seven Labour peers—perhaps at one time there were signs of socialism in their lives—voted with the Tories for these obscene welfare measures?

[Drew Hendry]

That was incredible, and it is worth repeating that fact in this House today.

There are lots of measures that the UK Government could take. They do not have to continue down this ideological path by squeezing the money out of the people who can least afford to pay it in order to ensure that other people enjoy the finery that they have had over many years. The words that have been spoken across the House today have been worth listening to. I hope that the Minister will take into account the thoughts he has heard expressed across the House, including from his Back Benches, and persuade the Chancellor to come back with something that is radically different and that supports the people in our constituencies who will otherwise be badly affected if this is not changed dramatically.

Air Passenger Duty: Regional Airports

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2015 Westminster Hall

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. I congratulate the hon. Member for Solihull (Julian Knight) on securing this important debate. As the SNP spokesperson on transport, I obviously take a keen interest in this issue.

The hon. Gentleman described the positive impact regional airports can have on the economy—jobs, direct investment and the growth that stimulates further jobs down the line. Members around the Chamber have talked with common purpose about supporting regional airports and those who have to travel from the periphery.

The right hon. Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds) said that regional airports are being held back by APD, but I would suggest that this goes even further: they are also being held back by a lack of flexibility in policy on route development and route protection. The right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) said that devolving the relevant powers would make a difference, and I think they will when they come on stream for Scotland. That is mainly because Scotland’s regional airports will not get the benefit of High Speed 2. Even if HS2 does come to Scotland, they will not see a difference.

[Mrs Spelman]

For the record, it is right to say that the Scottish Government do want HS2 to reach Scotland. They have given clear evidence to that end.

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[Drew Hendry]

Absolutely. We would be delighted to see HS2 reach Scotland; indeed, we have always said it should start in Scotland and be developed southwards.

My hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford) mentioned the impact that the development of regional airports has on tourism. Nowhere is that more true than in her constituency, but it is now an expensive destination because of the policy we have had. As we heard, Elvis left the building, and he was not encouraged to come back subsequently—regrettably, he cannot do so now.

The hon. Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies) talked about APD’s effect on Blackpool airport. He said that the airport needs support, but that it has been left in a precarious position over the years. That is very similar to the position in Inverness and Dundee, so I have a great feeling of common purpose with him. We must make sure that routes are not dropped just because there is a more profitable option elsewhere. These routes are important lifelines for the communities they serve.

We have heard about the proposals for the reduction and abolition of APD in Scotland. I am pleased to say that those are yet another good idea from the SNP Government, and they seem to have gained quite a lot of support around the room. They make sense, and it is important that we go ahead with them.

As the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, I understand the impact of APD. Regional airports such as Inverness and Dundee have long suffered the inequity of APD, but they are not alone, because other airports suffer too, and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are not well served by APD either. As we have heard, Prestwick could very much benefit from the proposed change. Air connectivity is vital to the local economy, and I am pleased that it will be—in fact, I am impatient for it to be—in the Scottish Government’s hands.

The UK introduced APD in 1994 to raise revenue from the aviation industry, anticipating that it would have environmental benefits through its effect on air traffic volumes. When it was introduced, it took the form of a flat £5 charge on flights in the UK and a £10 charge on other flights. It has been changed many times over the years. It was doubled in 1996, lowered in 2000, frozen between 2001 and 2007 and doubled from February 2007. It was then changed under the Labour Government in 2008 and the coalition Government in 2010. In 2013, it was increased, and the Chancellor made further changes in 2014 and 2015. This APD hokey cokey, married with the here today, gone tomorrow effect on routes and regional airports, has done nothing to help regional economies in places such as Inverness and Dundee or in the other constituencies represented by Members around the Chamber.

I point to those changes because, throughout all these years, successive Governments have failed to support regional airports. My constituents have suffered under the current approach. In addition to devolving APD powers as quickly as possible, we need public service obligations on routes to regional airports, as well as guarantees on those routes. We also need more flexibility on route development.

By 2016, £210 million less per annum will be spent in Scotland by inbound visitors than would have been the case if APD had not risen since 2007. That is a staggering figure. When power is transferred, the Scottish Government are committed to reducing APD by 50% by the end of the next Parliament, with a view to eventually abolishing the tax when public finances allow. Their plans to abolish APD have been welcomed by the British Air Transport Association, Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, VisitScotland and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

Sophie Dekkers, the UK director for easyJet—Scotland’s largest airline—has said:

“When APD is halved passengers in Scotland will quickly feel the benefit, with easyJet and other airlines adding more services to existing destinations and launching flights to new destinations from Scotland.”

Again, that would be welcome news for my constituents, who have long suffered the effect of here today, gone tomorrow flights.

[Jim Shannon]

In the scenario that the hon. Gentleman has outlined, if Scotland were to abolish APD, and given that the Republic has already done it, Northern Ireland would be the meat in the sandwich. It is important that Northern Ireland as well as Scotland gets to do it. Does he agree?

[Drew Hendry]

I absolutely agree, and support the devolution of powers to the nations of the UK in that way.

A consultation on a Scottish replacement to APD has been launched by the Scottish Government. It will give the people of Scotland and other interested parties the opportunity to provide their views—public views—on the design and structure of a Scottish APD. A Scottish APD stakeholder forum has also been established to help provide expert policy input in the preparation of policy proposals for Scottish APD, involving the air transport industry, environmental groups and tax practitioners and advisers. Devolution of APD to the Scottish Parliament will provide an opportunity to design a replacement tax that better supports our objective to improve connectivity to Scottish airports, generating new direct routes and increasing inbound tourism.

Reducing APD will have a positive impact on passengers, business costs and connectivity. However, as I have said, our support for regional airports should not end there. We need to make sure that the UK Government will do more to support regional airports, with a review of the current public service obligation regimes. The current criterion is too narrow and limits opportunities for regional airports.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, particularly in the context of a debate secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull, to refer to the progress that we want to make in the west midlands, which is very much a priority area as well. I was going to touch on that. The case for the midlands engine set out today by my hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden is important.

I turn to English regional airports; I know they have expressed concerns that air passenger duty devolution will impact negatively on their business. The Government appreciate those concerns. Regional airports play an important role as local employers and enable the transport of people and products nationally and internationally. That improves connectivity, increases trade and helps to create new jobs. Consequently, the Government are undertaking a review of how to support regional airports in respect of such impacts. That is why the Prime Minister stated earlier this year:

“We are not going to accept a situation where there’s unfair tax competition…We will do what’s necessary to make sure that England’s regional airports can succeed.”

[Drew Hendry]

Does the Minister agree with the points made around the Chamber earlier about the fact that, whether someone is in a regional airport in Scotland or England, the economic growth that can be generated by changing the tax regime to encourage trade will enable all the regions to become more successful? They are not necessarily a threat to each other.

[Mr Gauke]

The Government have made significant progress on the devolution of taxes generally. The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the announcement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the retention of business rates, for example. I know that business rates are already devolved in Scotland, but allowing English local authorities to retain business rates is an example whereby through aligning incentives, as it were, we can create the conditions for economic growth in every part of the United Kingdom.

I will deal with the specific points on APD in a moment, but first let me address the issue of the regional airports review, because, as part of that review, the Government published a discussion paper at the summer Budget this year. The paper explored three potential options for supporting regional airports affected by devolution: the first was devolving APD to regions within England; the second was varying APD rates within England; and the third was providing aid to regional airports.

The paper explored how the options could work and highlighted key points for consideration. The period for feedback on the options is now closed. We received a large number of responses and would like to thank all interested parties for their valuable responses to that consultation. We are carefully considering the views and evidence that we have received. We appreciate that the aviation industry values stability and certainty in the UK tax system and we will respond to the views expressed on the options in the discussion paper in due course. The response will set out how the Government wish to take the matter forward.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

Our rates are higher than those in many other countries; I am not disputing that. I am arguing that we are not convinced that abolition of APD would pay for itself. Presumably the Scottish Government are also not convinced, because they have not brought forward proposals to abolish APD. It may be an aspiration for the long term—when finances allow—but that does suggest that there would be a loss of revenue.

The hon. Member for Central Ayrshire referred to the experience of Prestwick airport and the effect on tourism—a perfectly legitimate point to raise. As I said, we accept that APD rates are high on an international comparison. However, we think that APD is a very small component of a tourist’s overall spending on a trip to the UK. Some analysis done by Treasury officials over the summer suggests that depending on how long a long-haul passenger stays in the UK, APD probably makes up less than 2% of total spending on travel, hotels and subsistence, so although I accept the point, we have to put it into the context of the wider costs that may apply.

[Drew Hendry]

I am listening to the Minister’s comments about the effect on Prestwick airport. Does he accept that Prestwick, along with other regional airports whose local economies rely heavily on tourism, would be affected exponentially by additional costs for passengers? The Scottish Government’s approach—to reduce immediately and then remove APD—is likely to serve those economies better than taking no approach at all.

[Mr Gauke]

What I will say—this is the case for devolution; I suspect that the hon. Gentleman and I might agree on this—is that we shall see. We have the chance to see whether that approach has an impact on tourism levels in that area. We will be able to see that from the evidence that emerges, and that could help to inform future decisions. We have that flexibility, and the Scottish Government are able to exercise the policy that they think fit for Scotland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

If there was a dramatically different regime for new routes to and from the UK versus existing ones, there is a risk that there could be a certain gaming of the system. In order to qualify for a lower rate of APD, an operator might attempt to make a relatively minor change to a route, such as flying to a different German airport close to the original one, and thereby replace an existing route with a new one. That would do little to improve the use of, say, Birmingham International airport, as my hon. Friend seeks to do—given the remarks of my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden, it might be unwise to try to increase the number of users to 36 million—and we would merely see a lot of churn, rather than the increase that my hon. Friend would like. On that and related ideas, we are considering all responses from interested parties to our consultation, and we will respond in due course.

[Drew Hendry]

I am grateful to the Minister for being generous with his time. I believe that he is talking quite a lot of sense on the difficulties with APD holidays, but does he agree that what we need is flexibility over route development? In other words, we need not only starter routes but more frequency on those routes. Indeed, perhaps we need public service obligations to guarantee those routes, which would allow them to bed in, to become established and to reach critical mass.

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman, who is his party’s Front-Bench spokesman on transport matters, raises an important point, but I question whether APD is the correct way of achieving the objective that he seeks. In the context of APD, there are some challenges, and the gaming of the system is one risk.

Having welcomed the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles, I must point out that her shadow Treasury colleague the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris), the shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, told the House on 29 June:

“I would increase the rate of APD.”—[Official Report, 29 June 2015; Vol. 597, c. 1275.]

To be fair, that was before he was appointed to the shadow Front-Bench team. I do not know whether that is the Labour party’s position. I will leave that question hanging.

Scotland Bill

Drew Hendry Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

I will conclude by talking about the economic impact on England. I have given the figures for the savings that passengers could make, and airlines can of course take advantage of those savings by choosing to split them between passengers and their own profit lines. If, however, for the sake of argument, one Ryanair flight and one easyJet flight were moved from Manchester airport to Glasgow, £2.9 million of revenue would be lost to the United Kingdom Treasury and 450 jobs would be lost in Manchester. That is not insignificant when one is trying to build an economy, and I do not blame Edinburgh or Glasgow for trying to build their economy in the way that Newcastle and Manchester are doing. Those figures represent nearly 250,000 passengers, and the economic impact in relation to long-haul flights is much more significant.

[Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)]

The hon. Gentleman is making a point about cross-border competition. Does he agree that there is another point about the longer-term sustainability of airports outwith that area, such as Inverness and Dundee? They need additional support and would benefit from the reinvestment in Scotland of the revenue generated by additional passenger traffic.

[Graham Stringer]

I agree with that perfectly sensible point.

The Government may have a number of possible solutions, and I hope that the Financial Secretary will be able to respond in some way. Manchester airport has made the case strongly to the Government that there should be an air passenger duty holiday on new long-haul routes, and that would be helpful. The Government could devolve decision making to other parts of the United Kingdom as well as to Scotland, although it would be difficult to find a mechanism for doing so. The Government could also agree to compete with Scotland, because if there is no competition, there will be an unfair loss of jobs through lowering the rate of air passenger duty.

Such solutions seem sensible to me, given the experience in the rest of Europe and, indeed, in the rest of the world. The tax was brought in not for environmental reasons, as is sometimes said, but entirely to deal with the hole in the budget after the 1992 general election. It is an inefficient tax: consultants have estimated that it costs the economy more than it brings into the Treasury in cash. Even if the Financial Secretary cannot give an absolutely definitive answer today, I hope he will assure us that he is willing to look at some of the sensible responses to this new competition in tax regimes.