Air Passenger Duty

Debate between Priti Patel and Lord Bruce of Bennachie

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

APD has a detrimental impact on our competitiveness, which is why we are calling for the economic impact. I will come to competitiveness later.

I hope my hon. Friend the Minister will be open-minded to the concept of looking at the financials and to doing an economic impact assessment, because families and businesses feel that APD is a punitive tax. Research demonstrates that the costs to the wider economy are far greater than tax receipts for the Treasury. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that the cost to the economy in 2012 will be £4.2 billion, and as many as 91,000 jobs.

[Sir Malcolm Bruce (Gordon) (LD)]

I commend the hon. Lady for introducing this extremely important debate. I represent Aberdeen airport. We are doubly disadvantaged, first because we are much more dependent on air travel—it takes seven and half hours to get from Aberdeen to London by train—and secondly, we must pay tax twice if we inter-line in London. That gives us an incentive to use continental rather than UK airports.

[Priti Patel]

The right hon. Gentleman touches on both the cost of APD and our competitiveness. A 2011 York Aviation report estimated that Scotland would lose 1.2 million passengers, 148,000 tourists and around £77 million in the period up to 2014.