Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Gordon Henderson and Albert Owen

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Albert Owen]

I will not give way again; I have already given way twice and I want to finish my point.

People who visit places such as the Isle of Anglesey, which I represent, want to go to them regularly. They will therefore buy terraced houses or properties at the lower end of the market and force up the prices of those properties. That will put pressure on affordable housing. I do not think that that is an issue that the Treasury has taken on board.

This exemption is not an anomaly, but is meant to help the industry. If that industry suffers, many people in the tourism and manufacturing industries across the United Kingdom will suffer. We have seen headlines about the granny tax, the pasty tax and the charity tax, but this proposal is an Osborne tax. It was made in No. 11 and will have consequences across the United Kingdom. Tonight, Members on both sides of the House have the opportunity to vote it down. That is the strongest and clearest message that we can send the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his lieutenant. That is true not only of the caravan tax but of the pasty tax, which I will also vote against if there is an opportunity to do so tonight. Let us be consistent. The caravan tax will not raise extra revenue for the Treasury, but it will damage jobs, entrepreneurs, coastal areas of beauty that rely on tourism and areas that rely on the manufacturing of caravans.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

I should like to draw to the Government’s attention a couple of anomalies in the VAT rules that they have created with their Budget proposals. That is quite ironic considering that the reason that Ministers have given for their proposals to change the current VAT rates for pies, pasties and caravans is to iron out such anomalies.

I start with hot food. The Government propose to amend note 3 in the existing legislation so that

“the current test for ‘hot takeaway food’ which is based on the purposes for which food is heated becomes a simpler and more objective test based on whether the food is above ambient air temperature at the time it is provided to the customer.”

That suggestion is nonsense, and I will explain why.