The political status quo has been shaken by the Scottish referendum, but Abta will remain at the heart of policy debate, says the association’s head of public affairs, Stephen d’Alfonso
Scotland undoubtedly felt at a momentous crossroads last Thursday. No one could be certain what the final decision would be in the Scottish referendum, and we were promised that whether the vote was ‘yes’ or ‘no’, we would wake up on Friday with a different political future ahead of us.
Asked ‘do you think Scotland should be an independent country?’, a majority of voters in Scotland said ‘no’. This brought to an end a protracted period of uncertainty, with both the pound and the FTSE rallying on Friday.
What became abundantly clear throughout the latter stages of the campaign, however, was that a vote for ‘no’ was not an endorsement of the status quo.
The people of Scotland were promised change, and so by Friday, the mad dash to save the union had morphed into a frantic political and civic debate about what kind of country we ought to be, and where important decisions are best made.
There will be time to explore this debate in the coming months, but as Westminster’s hopes of a swift return to ‘business as usual’ fade, the industry must recognise that the issues that concerned travel businesses and their customers throughout the independence debate, such as taxation and consumer protection, remain very live concerns.
Take, for example, Air Passenger Duty (APD). The Scottish government has been clear in its opposition to APD, recognising that it is limiting Scotland’s competitiveness.
The SNP had pledged that an independent Scotland would immediately halve APD with the intention of ultimately scrapping it altogether.
There is broad consensus in Scotland that APD should be devolved, but it is clear that a varying rate of APD in Scotland and England would be damaging and uncompetitive for English airports, just as it proved in Northern Ireland when the Republic’s equivalent tax was significantly lower.
That is surely an untenable position for the UK government to endorse, and would increase the pressure on the Treasury to deliver a ‘fair tax on flying’ across the UK.
Negotiations on the specifics will be intense and take us right through to the general eection and beyond, though the three Westminster parties will want to make good on their promises to Scotland, and soon.
The political status quo may have been shaken to its core, but Abta will remain at the heart of the policy debate ensuring our message is heard clearly in Westminster, Brussels, Holyrood, Cardiff, and Belfast.
If travel businesses are to generate growth and jobs, all governments have a role enabling competitiveness, and ensuring regulation is set at an appropriate level. Abta will continue to make the case as this vigorous constitutional debate unfolds.