With Britain in deep midwinter, it’s no surprise millions are turning their thoughts to a well-earned summer holiday.
Unfortunately, thanks to Rachel Reeves’s tax-raiding Budget, a foreign break – already pricey – will become even more expensive.
From 2026, the Chancellor is hiking Air Passenger Duty (APD) by a hefty 15 per cent, which will invariably be passed by airlines onto the customer.
That won’t go down well with passengers who have to pay at least £102 tax for an economy flight of more than 2,000 miles.
These will be the steepest air taxes in Europe. And for many families, it could push the cost of a longed-for holiday in the sun out of reach.
There are other consequences. The rise in APD will harm the travel sector, contribute to the further decline of Britain’s airports and deter businesses from flying off to sell British products in far–flung markets.
For a Government that says its number one mission is economic growth, this is a particularly ill-thought-out levy. It also makes a mockery of Labour’s claim that it hasn’t raised taxes on ‘working people’.
Successive chancellors have disguised the duty as a ‘green tax’, but the environmental case for it has always been feeble.
Rachel Reeves is hiking Air Passenger Duty (APD) by a hefty 15 per cent, which will invariably be passed by airlines onto the customer
The rise in APD will harm the travel sector and contribute to the further decline of Britain’s airports (file photo)
The truth is, this is a nice little earner for the Treasury, which is set to rake in £4.5 billion from holidaymakers this year alone.
Since winning power, Sir Keir Starmer has enjoyed countless international jaunts (all at taxpayers’ expense of course).
How sad the Prime Minister’s team is making it harder for others to do the same.
Six years of betrayal
Exactly six years ago today, the then home secretary Sajid Javid declared a ‘major incident’ as migrants began crossing the Channel in small boats.
At that point, 281 had arrived on our shores. Since then, the figure is a staggering 150,000 – equivalent to the population of a town the size of Blackpool.
Successive governments have repeatedly promised to stop the influx of overwhelmingly young men, but still they keep coming. And why wouldn’t they?
They are accommodated in comfy hotels and fed – costing the taxpayer many billions. Vanishingly few are ever sent home.
The Tories’ Rwanda deterrent looked like it might work, but Labour scrapped it and things have got worse. Sir Keir’s grand plan – to ‘smash the gangs’ – is having no effect.
A major factor in the Conservatives’ electoral mauling was their betrayal of the public on this issue. If Labour want to avoid a similar fate, they must get serious about tackling this crisis.
A group of people thought to be migrants are driven away on a coach from the Border Force compound in Dover
Leftist hypocrisy
In its latest display of double standards, the transport body overseen by London mayor Sadiq Khan has banned adverts criticising the Government’s family farm tax from the Tube network.
Transport for London says the billboards, planned by the National Farmers’ Union to draw attention to the policy, break the rules because they are ‘politically controversial’. Isn’t it more likely to be because it embarrasses Mr Khan’s beloved Labour?
After all, it was more than happy for Tube stations to be festooned with posters from pressure groups promoting assisted dying and a ban on exports of live animals. If these aren’t politically contentious, what is?
Mr Khan insists he has no involvement. But it’s certainly curious how TfL’s decisions on adverts seem to align perfectly with his Left-wing worldview.