Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Freer Excerpts

Wednesday 29th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am delighted to hear that the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom, although I have to say that their representatives in the House do not always give that impression. Perhaps I have been missing something. We recognise that families and businesses are continuing to feel the pressure from very high prices. We have cut the fuel duty and scrapped the automatic fuel duty stabiliser. That has meant that average pump prices are 6p lower than they would have been under the previous Government’s plans, but clearly we are also being impacted by a higher oil price.

[Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)]

Q7. This week, the Government took action on unacceptable tax avoidance. Does the Prime Minister agree that the principles of paying a fair share of tax should apply both to banks and to former Mayors of London?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Whether it is Barclays bank or, frankly, Ken Livingstone, people should pay the proper amount of tax, and I hope that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will look carefully at all these sorts of cases. Londoners, many of whom live in Labour-controlled areas with high Labour council taxes, will be pretty angry about what they have seen and will probably conclude that red Ken has been caught red-handed.