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Fuel duty campaign gathers momentum
Page 16
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he call to drop the 2p/lit rise and bring UK duty in line with the rest of urope is gaining some surprising supporters, reports Roanna Avison
rhe price of fuel is an emotive subject, especially for hauliers struggling to stay business in a very competitive arket. The Freight Transport ssociation and Road Haulage ssociation have long campaigned have the duty cut to bring the K in line with the rest of Europe. Their 'courteous' meeting last :ek with Chancellor Alistair Irling (‘Chancellor 'sympathetic' operators call for help', CM 14 bruary) to ask him to abandon -:: 2p/lit rise due in April was Presentative of the softly, softly proach they have taken to get !, message across.
The two associations have also ned forces with other industry ;anisations such as the British sociation of Removers, the AA, ; RAC and the Federation of tall Businesses to put pressure the government to cut fuel duty commercial vehicles, even if it ,ans uncoupling the tax paid by 's from that charged for private use.
!dia coverage
.d the disparity between the y paid in the UK and that paid the Continent has not gone toticed in other quarters.
.,ast week the Daily Telegraph lorted that a driver buying )0 litres of diesel on a Belgian :.court pays £695.30, while his
British counterpart buying the same amount of fuel in the UK has to pay £921.66. Fuel duty in Belgium is 24.7p a litre, compared with 50.35p in Britain.
The paper also pointed out that one in seven of the heaviest lorries on Britain's roads comes from overseas.
The haulage industry's call for a cut in fuel duty has now received support from another quarter — the RMI Petrol Retailers Association (PRA). PRA director Ray Holloway says: With the price of fuel now clearly affecting inflation .the time has come for the Chancellor to cancel the fuel duty increase scheduled for 1 April."
January's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation figure rose to 2.2%, up from 2.1% in December 2007 —this is the highest rate since June 2007.The largest upward pressure came from the price of fuel.
Holloway adds: This outcome was inevitable and has formed the basis of all messages fed into the Chancellor by the PRA for some time. With rising duty now clearly affecting inflation, going ahead with the rise on 1 April would be unwise, especially at a time when summer demand for fuels will be starting to push prices upwards.
"Increasing fuel tax would mean further price increases. The Chancellor must recognise the effect a duty rise would have and cancel it as soon as possible, as well as reviewing how and when small businesses pay excise duty on fuel supplies."
Waiting game
Of course, operators will have to wait until 12 March to see whether the Chancellor is convinced by any of the arguments and admits that current fuel prices are causing harm to British business and therefore drops the 2p/lit increase in duty. •