Welcoming reform to Air Passenger Duty

Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Chair of the All-Parliamentary Group on the British Caribbean welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement today about reform to the Air Passenger Duty regime. She said “I have campaigned for years on this issue; I have lobbied both Labour treasury ministers and Conservative treasury ministers so I am very glad to see that the Treasury is finally listening. This was a very unfair tax that made it cheaper to fly to Hawai than to Kingston, Jamaica. It was a penal burden on British citizens of Caribbean descent who needed to travel home and also had a negative effect on tourism to the Caribbean. Whilst I welcome today’s victory, the campaign isn’t over. These reforms will see a small drop in the price of tickets to the Caribbean, but there needs to be a real review of the workings of the Air Passenger Duty to make sure that it is fair to the Caribbean and fair to British business.” 


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