FairFuelUK campaign fight isn’t over just yet
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laura.hailstone@roadtransport.com
THE FREIGHT Transport Association (FTA) and the Road Haulage Association (RHA) are keen to continue the ight for a fair deal on fuel, despite the minor respite the Chancellor provided last week in the Budget.
“It would be ludicrous to lose the irm foundations we’ve built over the last 10 weeks through the FairFuelUK campaign,” says RHA chief executive Geoff Dunning. “We’ve got over 140 MPs backing the campaign and have collected around 140,000 signatures. We’re currently taking stock and will be meeting with the FTA and Peter Carroll [FairFuelUK campaign leader] shortly.” James Hookham, FTA MD of policy and communications, agrees: “We must not let the MPs think that the Chancellor has dealt with the issue. We need to keep the campaign going in one form or another because the duty increase has only been postponed until January. If nothing is done we’ll be back campaigning in the run up to Christmas to get the January rise abandoned,” says Hookham.
In last week’s Budget, George Osborne announced a cut in fuel duty of 1ppl, and a postponement of the 1ppl April duty rise to January 2012.
He also announced a fair fuel stabiliser; when oil prices are high, fuel duty will increase by inlation only. This is offset by a 32% supplementary charge on oil and gas production, up from 20%.
The FTA says it will be “tracking prices very carefully over the next few months to ensure the oil irms do deliver the savings that have been promised”.
The fuel duty escalator will be re-introduced if the price of a barrel of oil drops below $75 per barrel for a ‘sustained period’ .
The FTA says $75 is a ‘sensible level’ the industry can live with but it was unclear what would happen if the price dropped substantially.
The principal bone of contention still remains the disparity over duty compared with the rest of Europe, which on average, is around 25ppl higher in the UK.
Campaign leader Carroll says: “We all agree that we had a better result in the Budget than expected but it still leaves the industry in an horrendous position.
“UK hauliers still face much higher fuel prices than their European counterparts.”