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Finance Bill

The hon. Gentleman may well be correct that it is right that there should be geographically targeted regeneration help, not just in the hotel market but in other sectors, to assist the regeneration that all of us want. However, I suggest that there is no case for a generalised allowance for the tourism sector, although there was 30 years ago. In general, the sector enjoys high levels of profitability. The sector as a whole will derive significant benefits from the 2 per cent. cut in the headline rate of corporation tax. As I said to him in Committee, for smaller hoteliers, the annual investment allowance of £50,000 will be a significant incentive for investment. My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) and the hon. Members for Falmouth and Camborne, for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice), and for Hexham (Mr. Atkinson) raised issues concerning agriculture. I say to them that the withdrawal of allowances is not an isolated measure. In the Budget, we announced cuts in the basic rate of income tax and the main rate of corporation tax. We also announced the new annual investment allowance, which is particularly important for small farmers. It is an allowance of £50,000 for business investment from 2008; that will be extremely helpful. It is possible that farmers who continue to invest will find that once the annual investment allowance is in place they will be better off as a result of the package as a whole, rather than worse off.