Labour And Energy-Saving Materials

EDM number 629 in 1996-97, proposed by John Hannam on 10/03/1997.

That this House notes that in the 1994-95 Parliamentary Session some 240 Labour honourable Members signed EDM 1150, which called for VAT on energy-saving materials to be reduced to 8 per cent.; also notes that in February 1996, during the debate in the House on the Report Stage of the Finance Bill, the entire Parliamentary Labour Party, including the Front Bench, voted for an amendment to the Bill which would have reduced VAT on energy-saving materialsto 8 per cent.; further notes that this year the Labour Front Bench decided not to support an amendment to the current Finance Bill which would reduce VAT on energy-saving materials to 8 per cent. but instead has tabled an alternative amendment calling for a report on the subject; notes also that some 20 Labour honourable Members have, at the insistence of the Labour Whips, withdrawn their names from amendments to the current Finance Bill which would reduce VAT on energy-saving materials to 8 per cent.; and therefore expresses its belief that this shows that the Labour Party is in a state of confusion and that it cannot be trusted on tax and environmental matters.

This motion has been signed by a total of 40 MPs.