Those who live in glasshouses. . .
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IT WAS appropriate that one of the leaders of the revolt against the higher fuel tax should have been the Conservative MP for Bedford, home of the National Freight Co. Whether the Parliamentary Opposition supported Trevor Skeet and his colleagues out of conviction or political expediency is open to doubt.
I do not recall a Labour rebellion when in 1968 Barbara Castle sought to tax heavy loads — on which vital export trade depended — off the road. In the event, her selective proposals were replaced by a big general increase in road transpot taxation, which certainly did not offend Labour MPs.
Sir Geoffrey Howe's statement that commercial glasshouse owners were to receive aid of £.5.5m by way of protection against Dutch competitors should have reminded all MPs that those, like themselves, who live in glasshouses should not throw stones.