Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett met with British Members of Parliament in London Wednesday in an effort to increase the lobby against the imminent increase in air passenger duty (APD).

Among the MPs was Diane Abbott, the representative for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who is of Jamaican descent.

The Jamaican Government is leading the charge for a revision of the APD, which Bartlett has argued, places destinations like Jamaica at a disadvantage. He described the regime as unfair, saying it would undermine Jamaican and Caribbean tourism.

During the meetings, he argued that the proposed new structure of the APD, in which countries are placed in charging bands determined by the distance of their capital city from London, was discriminatory. Bartlett charged that it favoured large developed countries over smaller ones, which operate in the same highly competitive environment.

Bartlett has maintained that the increased tax is inherently unfair "and not the least bit green".

"The structure of APD as an environmental tax suggests that the impact of a flight to Jamaica or Barbados is greater than one to Miami, Los Angeles or Honolulu.

"Why should Caribbean countries with relatively low emissions suffer the effects of an environmental tax, in favour of the world's biggest polluter?" he asked.

According to the tourism minister, the changes will have a major effect on tourism to the Caribbean, thereby impacting the economies of the region and travel by members of the United Kingdom Caribbean diaspora.