My Lords, I was very pleased to put my name to this amendment. This is a tale of two airports—the rivalry between Bristol and Cardiff airports—but someone listening to this debate who is not familiar with the geography that lies behind the arguments within it could be forgiven for thinking that these two airports are near neighbours. The argument is always put forward that, if you devolve responsibility for APD to the Welsh Assembly, it will cut the level of the duty and that will put Bristol Airport at a disadvantage. However, these airports are 102 kilometres apart, and they are not easy kilometres. They include driving along the M4, with its congestion, over the Severn bridge with its tolls and over very poor road links around Bristol to the airport, so it frequently takes in excess of two hours to go between the two airports. If you try going by public transport, you have an extremely complex journey involving trains and buses.
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I urge noble Lords to think about the contrast with Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, which now, courtesy of the Scottish Government, have the freedom potentially not to levy APD. They are both closer to the English border than Cardiff airport is to the English border—for example, Edinburgh is 57 kilometres from the English border. The argument that it is all right for Scotland to have this power but not for Wales to have it does not stand up to close scrutiny.
There is a very important point of principle that I apply when I look at Welsh devolution, and that is whether it is consistent with the other devolution settlements. I agree that very often there are good reasons for differences, but I can see no specific reason why there should be a difference with Scotland on APD. I accept there is a good reason for a difference with Northern Ireland. It has a land border with the Republic of Ireland, which has the freedom to levy a different rate of APD, so there is a pragmatic reason why Northern Ireland has that freedom, but I can see
no reason why Scotland is different. I accept that the Scottish Government have control over the judicial system and that that does not apply in Wales and will not apply for a considerable time. I accept those differences as a result of history, but I have thought about this long and hard and I cannot accept that the Assembly should not have powers over APD simply because Bristol Airport has been very effective at lobbying.
This issue is especially important because the Welsh Government have put taxpayers’ money into this and invested in developing Cardiff Airport, which has worked extremely well. It has produced good results under the leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Rowe-Beddoe, and Roger Lewis. It is very important that the airport in Cardiff is allowed to grow and to develop fully and is not forced to try to do so with one hand tied behind its back.