I do not know, Mr. Gale. Whatever the hon. Gentleman’s leader says, if you vote blue in Ludlow, you do not get green. This is not a revenue-raising levy. When we introduced the aggregates levy in 2002, we cut the national insurance rate for employers across the board. So, if anything, the Treasury is down on receipts from the levy rather than up. In addition, it is an environmental tax; it is an environmental tax for environmental purposes. Its purpose is, first, to incorporate some of the external costs that come from quarrying and, secondly, to try to encourage the greater use of recycled stone and gravel.

The assessment, including the independent assessment of the impact of the levy since its introduction in 2002, shows that between then and 2005 the amount of newly quarried rock, stone and gravel in this country was reduced by 18 million tonnes, and the amount of recycled aggregate used in this country over that time increased by 5.5 million tonnes, so it is having the sort of impact that it was designed to achieve.