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Finance Bill

My right hon. Friend makes a valid point. In fact, just this morning I had an e-mail from one of my constituents who was concerned about the increased tax take that the Government were getting from the increase in petrol prices at the pump. I am conscious that that is outside the scope of amendment No. 6, so I cannot dwell on the issue at as much length as I might have liked to have done in other circumstances. The consequence for many families is that the rate of VED that they have to pay on their car will go up. An analysis of the changes indicates that VED rates will rise on 88 per cent. of cars. The percentage increase on a Nissan Micra is actually greater than that on a Porsche Cayenne. We are starting to see a series of increases in differentials that gives rise to some of the comments mentioned by the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) earlier. The problem is whether people see the increases in VED as simply a tax increase or a legitimate way to tackle carbon emissions. In the evidence given to the Treasury Committee in its inquiry on the 2008 Budget, John Whiting from PricewaterhouseCoopers commented, in the context of the environmental measures:"““What is lacking is a clear statement, a clear framework, by Government which says…'Are we raising money by environmental duties or are we changing behaviour?'””" The CBI said that the Government were approaching environmental taxes in ““completely the wrong way””. It argued that the primary aim of environmental taxes should be to change behaviour and not to raise revenue. In that context, it is important that there is a mechanism that enables people to measure the behavioural changes that take place as a consequence of the changes announced in the Budget. That is what amendment No. 6 seeks to do, by asking the independent committee on climate change that will be established by the Climate Change Bill to produce a report, not later than Budget 2009, on the carbon emission savings resulting from changes to the vehicle excise duty in this Bill.