Today, I contributed to a Back Bench debate on landfill tax fraud secured by cross party MPs Kevan Jones and David Davis. It stemmed from a visit to the National Crime Agency in October, where the three of us met with the Director General, Graeme Biggar, to discuss how the NCA can help combat waste crime, including landfill tax fraud, and add their support to the Environment Agency.
Landfill tax has been effective at reducing the amount of waste going to landfill, but it has also increased the incentive to commit waste crime and this is heavily costing the country and our constituents economically, socially and environmentally. Landfill tax fraud, which HMRC estimates costed the taxpayer £125 million in 2020-21. Businesses can undertake a broad spectrum of illegal activity to avoid the tax, whether it be misdescription of waste, large scale dumping of waste at illegal waste sites and some fly-tipping.
The Minister responded to the debate setting out ways the Government are tackling waste crime and looking into how effective the tax is at both reducing waste going to landfills and ensuring it does not encourage landfill tax fraud. I am glad to draw this issue to the public’s attention and also glad the Government has confirmed it is reconsidering the structure of the tax.
Unfortunately, we in Newcastle-under-Lyme know the negative impact of a poorly run landfill all too well. I will continue to fight for constituents on Walley’s Quarry to ensure that both the operator and the EA are fully held to account and appropriate action is taken in response to the misery this landfill has inflicted on residents.
You can watch a clip from my speech here, read my whole contribution here or the whole debate in Hansard here.