Archie Norman, Conservative Party transport spokesman, explains why Labour has got its freight policy wrong...
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• If you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane or fax your views (up to 600 words) to Nicky Clarke on 020 8652 8912.
ii A sensible government would want to protect the
competitive interests of an industry that is responsible for transporting 94% of all goods. But Tony Blair's government is not a sensible government.
It is baffling that Labour is doing so much damage, not only to Britain's haulage industry but also to the whole economy. Labour's tax vendetta against the haulage sector has forced up transport costs.
It's a bit rich for the government to blame supermarkets for high prices when it's the government itself that is ripping off Britain at the petrol pump. Shop prices are higher as a result of increased transport costs. Many small stores will find it impossible to compete with the larger stores that can absorb some of these increases.
It is also worrying that many of the smaller haulage companies will be forced to delay replacing old vehicles with more environmentally friendly ones. The current government policy is bad for consumers, bad for businesses and bad for the environment.
The price of fuel is the biggest concern of the British haulier. UK diesel is now about 27p more expensive per litre than the EU average: that is, a huge 53% more expensive. The road freight industry is the only industry which pays an operating tax—fuel duty—beyond normal tax requirements.
This taxation policy is not even achieving Labour's aim of reducing the number of trucks on the road. Instead it is forcing UK haulage companies out of business and allowing foreign ones to replace them.
If Labour continues to increase diesel at the present rate, then by 2003 11 per litre will be a reality. Labour's policy will be costing industry £5bn per year.
Last November Gordon Brown alleged that the fuel duty escalator would end. However, the figures show that he is still planning an increase in fuel duties. Labour is all talk but no action. The tables for Gordon Brown's November pre-Budget statement reveal that he is planning to increase revenue from fuel duties by ilbn next year—slightly more than the increase last year, when there was a 6% escalator.
Furthermore, in a letter dated 4 January 2000, a Treasury Minister said that the government is still committed to the 6% road fuel escalator. Was this a slip—or a moment of honesty? After all, John Prescott's ministers have also been making similar comments.
Labour claims to have stepped off the fuel escalator only to get on to a stealth tax escalator. They will continue putting fuel duties up, and this will just give an increasing advantage to your foreign competitors.
The haulage industry must continue to argue its case, forcefully and democratically. It would be common sense if the government listened to the industry and ended the fuel duty escalator. That is why William Hague included this pledge in our Common Sense Revolution policy that we launched at our party conference in October.
Labour has got its freight policy wrong. No haulage company puts its trucks on the road for the sake of it.
If the government does know best, then why have business leaders such as the CBI, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Chamber of Commerce all voiced fears that more than 50,000 jobs will go in the next three years because of the government's increase in fuel and road taxes?
The haulage industry needs a common-sense approach. It needs the government to listen and to learn and to accept that it has made mistakes. The Conservative Party has done that and that is why we oppose the government's unfair vendetta against the haulage industry.
Gordon Brown must also see sense, and end the fuel escalator and introduce an essential user rebate. If he doesn't, he will have shown that he does not care.