Christine Jardine
Main Page: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)Department Debates - View all Christine Jardine's debates with the HM Treasury
Economic Update
Christine Jardine Excerpts(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Jeremy Hunt
It is because I do not want that to happen that I have taken the very difficult decisions today.
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
I am sure that the Chancellor would agree that certainty is key to stability for businesses. As has already been mentioned by one or two of my hon. Friends, the Scotch whisky industry, and the spirits industry generally, is now facing uncertainty because of his U-turn on freezing the duty, and it has no certainty about whether or when the duty will go up, or when it will even know. Can he commit to letting the industry know at an early date—as soon as possible—what will actually happen to it, as it is vital to many of our constituencies?
Jeremy Hunt
We will conclude the decisions on what we will do in terms of excise duty reform generally as quickly as we can, but for now, I am afraid that the difficult decision that I announced today stands and we will not be able to proceed with the freeze from next February.