Clause 14

Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 3:30 pm ar 10 Mai 2007.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of John Healey John Healey The Financial Secretary to the Treasury 3:30, 10 Mai 2007

I am going to make this point and then I will sit down. The aggregates levy has not changed, despite the principle on which we introduced it and our expectation that it would rise in line with inflation to maintain not just its real value but its real effect. As it  was bedding down, we chose to freeze it each year until this year. This is the first rise that we have proposed; in many ways, this is a catch-up year. We are making this increase in the rate in order to maintain the environmental impact that the levy, in its earliest years, appears to be have been having.