Finance Bill

Lord Snape Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Snape (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, two matters and one glaring omission arise from the Spring Statement on which I wish to comment. A few hours ago, the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, said that taxes must rise and of course he is right. All of us in the Chamber and outside would agree that that is the case. One obvious case for a tax rise is the fuel duty escalator, which is not going to rise. Again, it seems a matter of pride on the part of the present Government that they are not prepared to look at the fuel tax escalator. I remind noble Lords that this tax has been frozen since 2011. The freeze will cost the nation about £520 million in the present financial year and I would like to know from the Minister how much the freeze has cost since 2011.

I remind noble Lords that the escalator was introduced by a Conservative Government in 1993 to stem the increase in pollution and cut the need for new road building. That was in 1993. Since then, the number of vehicles on our roads has risen from around 22 million to approaching 40 million, so it has not been very successful in reducing pollution and, according to the Spring Statement, we are to spend £27 billion on new road building. Although my party, the Labour Party, is often accused of declaring war on motorists, Ken Clarke was Chancellor when the fuel tax escalator was introduced. I do not know whether he is still a Conservative—the turnover in the Conservative Party is pretty enormous these days—but he was certainly a Conservative when the escalator was introduced.

The second point from the spring Budget has been dealt with fairly thoroughly in the debate, which is the digital sales tax. Rarely have I heard such unanimity. The Cross-Bencher, the noble Lord, Lord MacPherson, my noble friend Lord Haskel from the Labour Benches and, in a fairly coruscating speech, the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, from the Conservative Benches demanded that Government proceed with the digital sales tax. Will the Minister tell us how the special relationship is looking so far as the threats about its introduction from the United States are concerned?

The omission concerns our manufacturing sector. Like my noble friend Lord Rooker, who spoke earlier, I represented a constituency in the other place where manufacturing was the main employer, but not any more, I am afraid, because across the West Midlands nearly 300,000 people in manufacturing, construction and the automotive trade are furloughed. Other noble Lords mentioned the need for proper training. Again, I am afraid that that is also a job for the Government. It is missing from the Budget and, unless it is addressed, the decline in the manufacturing industry will continue.