Osborne's Air Passenger Duty freeze is not enough

George Osborne's plan to temporarily freeze the air passenger duty in Wednesday's budget does not go far enough and the UK government should abolish it entirely, according to Senior Labour MEP Brian Simpson, Chair of the European Parliament Transport Committee.

"Elsewhere in the EU, countries are removing counter-productive air passenger duties. The Dutch government recently lifted a similar tax and the newly-elected Irish government are committed to removing their duty. Holland and Ireland saw the adverse affect the tax is having on their national economies", said Mr Simpson reacting to the news in Brussels today.

"By freezing it the Chancellor is admitting that the air passenger duty is a regressive tax. It is particularly hard-hitting for regional airports as APD acts as a disincentive to airlines flying direct long haul services to airports like Manchester and Liverpool", added Mr Simpson, who has long-campaigned for the abolition of the per passenger tax.