Conservative Diary

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Tories will replace Air Passenger Duty with tax that also targets freight and Roman Abramovich

StealthTaxOnFlights The Conservatives are pledged to replace the Air Passenger Duty that will increase by an average 113% from tomorrow. The pledge from the Tory Treasury team is repeated by Greg Hands MP in a commitment to The Daily Telegraph (not online*).  The Conservatives are proposing an airline tax that will also apply to freight and private jets of the kind used by Roman Abramovich and Sir Philip Green - so lessening but not abolishing the increasing burden on holidaying families.

Richard Branson of Virgin has promised to print a special message attacking the tax rise on all of his passengers' tickets. 

The Telegraph has begun a campaign to see the tax scrapped. It sets out ten reasons why APD is unfair and potentially harmful to the British economy.

Picture 15 Conservatives for International Travel have issued a statement saying that the APD is a "Mile High Con", continuing: "Why should someone going on holiday pay through the nose for travel just to help pay bonuses for public sector bankers?".

Tim Montgomerie

* This is a persistent problem with The Telegraph. For a newspaper that prides itself on its digital vision it is consistently the worst newspaper at getting content uploaded to its website.

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