COMMENT
Page 9
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MPs' report is out of touch
A committee of (mostly Labour) MPs has decided there is "no conclusive proof" that high fuel taxes have put hauliers out of business (see page 5).
So what about all the hauliers that have gone bust over the past few years? What about those who remain arid tell us week after week that fuel is their biggest burden? What about the country-wide protests we saw last year? And what about the latest Budget, in which the Chancellor finally conceded that UK fuel duty is indeed punitively high and moved to reduce it?
If all this doesn't spell out a tax that's gone way too far to the detriment of those forced to suffer it, we don't know what does.
In reply we can only announce the results of Commercial Motor's own piece of research, conducted over recent months, which proves— utterly conclusively—that the MPs we pay to serve our interests actually understand very little of the world they live in, and certainly don't have our interests at heart.
Our evidence? Their stubborn and continued refusal to face up to the facts on fuel tax. Our conclusions? With a general election looming, we'll leave that to your imagination.
• A UK haulier with Dutchregistered vehicles on a Dutch 0licence is set to have his licence revoked for not managing the company from a Dutch office. If this happens, UK hauliers in similar positions will have to decide once and for all whether to return their operations fully to Britain or leave this country altogether.
Given Britain s continuing high fuel tax, driver shortages and generally uncompetitive environment, we wouldn t like to bet on which way they 11 go.