Labour hints at future fuel-duty hikes
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thristopher.wattonfarbi.co.uk
TI1E LABOUR PARTY could be planning a further increase in fuel duty should it win the general election later this year, as part of wider economic plans to reduce the UK's debt burden.
In a pre-manifesto document entitled The Choice for Britain, it says the party would look to halve the budget deficit over the next four years through a fairer tax system, including an increase in fuel duty.
While there is no guarantee that the document's contents will make it to the manifesto, it has been compiled by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Ed Miliband.The proposals will be sent to every constituency party in the country to frame Labour's thinking for the next manifesto.
Scottish National Party Westminster Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie has attacked the ideas as a "Poll Tax on wheels".
He says: "This revelation that Labour will yet again use fuel tax to hammer hauliers to pay for their bank bailout confirms that Labour and Gordon Brown have learnt nothing from their years in government."
Peter Carroll, who is running as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Maidstone and the Weald, says it is right to target the proposals, despite the fact they are not an agreement for a future manifesto. He adds: "I don't think our MPs would make the connection between fuel duty going up and thinking differently about commercial users. That is the view we have got with our politicians [Duty rises' are having a desperate effect on our industry."
A spokesman for the Labour Party plays down the document, saying it is a collection of policy ideas from its grassroots and is not binding to a future manifesto.
A spokeswoman for the Conservative Party criticised the recent rises in fuel duty as "another stealth tax" by Labour, but was unable to provide further details on the Tories' plans for fuel duty.