MP predicts increased perssure for aviation fuel tax

MP PETER Snape has predicted increasing pressure for a tax on aviation fuel in the next parliament.

Addressing the Guild of Business Travel Agents’ conference in Singapore last week, Snape, MP for West Bromwich East, and the GBTA’s parliamentary consultant, accused the Government of pandering to the environmental lobby and ignoring the worries of the travel industry over Heathrow’s fifth terminal and an aircraft fuel tax which would trigger ticket price increases.

“The aviation industry is the sector most in danger from unthinking government legislation,” he said. “There will be no let up in the pressure for an aviation fuel tax. The problem stems from the fact that ministers in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions see transport as a stepping-stone to other, more attractive portfolios, making them unwilling to tackle unpopular issues.”