Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts
Tuesday 21st June 2011

(13 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Henry Smith Portrait Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)
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Last week, a consortium of regional airports called for a congestion tax on London airports such as Gatwick in my constituency. Will the Treasury rule out such an absurd and, frankly, anti-free trade measure?

Justine Greening Portrait Justine Greening
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My hon. Friend is right to refer to the importance of the aviation sector. As he will know, the consultation on reform of air passenger duty closed last Friday, and we have received a number of different representations from stakeholders. He will be aware that this is partly about looking at what we can do to support regional airports, but we certainly do not want to do that at the expense of our other key airports in the south-east.