Government lobbied to consider fuel prices
Campaigners visited Downing Street this week to deliver a letter requesting the Government abandon plans to increase fuel duty and initiate an inquiry into pump prices.
FairFuelUK campaigners, led by Harlow MP Robert Halfon and including the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association (FTA), delivered a letter to the Prime Minister at No 10 Downing Street.
The letter, signed by Mr Halfon, pulled no punches. “High fuel taxes aren’t working”, said Mr Halfon. “Not only are our road freight industries being crushed, but foreign road freight operators continue to expand their operations in the UK at the expense of domestic hauliers as their rates of duty are up to 24 pence per litre less than their British counterparts.”
Today’s lobbying exercise was to request Government consideration for two proposals:
- To initiate an inquiry as to why pump prices do not fall when the price of oil decreases
- To abandon the inflationary duty rise planned for January 2012 which will have the potential of adding 4 pence per litre to the price of fuel. If the cost of filling a tank becomes easier to bear, this could result in a higher tax revenue for the Treasury.
"Today has been about bringing the critical issue of rising fuel prices to the very heart of government”, said FTA Chief Executive Theo de Pencier. “The cross party support we have amassed shows there is a real political appetite for fuel tax reform and that this is matched in constituencies around the country.
"Fuel is the biggest single cost for transport operators and unless the government acts to relieve the pressure faced by hauliers and other businesses we could be in danger of seeing more redundancies and more insolvencies in this beleaguered sector."
RHA Chief Executive Geoff Dunning added “This is an issue that we, as an industry, have to keep fighting for. The effects of an increase in fuel duty will have a catastrophic impact on the economy and on an industry that is finally recovering from a financial meltdown.
“We, together with FFUK, will continue to press the message home until, quite literally, we as an industry see the penny drop.”
This news was taken from the Freight Transport Association.
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