Time to walk the talk
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Readers of CM and Motor Transport have spoken. More than 3C0 of you responded to the fuel duty poll, in which we asked: what is the single action the industry should take to protect itself from future fuel duty increases?
We are heartened that so few in the industry voted to give up, and perhaps a little surprised that only a few more think we should win the hearts and minds of the public.
But we weren't surprised that the top two choices in reverse) were: engage in direct action; and support the Road Haulage Association (RHAI and the Freight Transport Association (FTA) in lobbying. The knee-jerk response to that is: what's lobbying done for us? Victories have been precious few, but this government, in the aftermath of the 2000 fuel depot protests, swore it would never be held to ransom again, so direct action is not going to convince Westminster. So what angle should the lobbying take? And who should be lobbied?
We've passed the point of no return with this government; next year will give us an election that should deliver a new administration (although not because the Tories
have been an effective opposition, more that the public have fallen out of love with Labour), so we'll be joining the ETA and the RHA at the party conferences to push the
industry's case to 'those who would be king'. We must present the powers-that-be with solutions, using their Language and their data. And those solutions have got to be nonvote-losing.
• Meanwhile, don't forget to take part in our Trucking Britain Out Of Recession initiative. Log on to www. roadtransport.com/britain
Justin Stanton