Shadow boxing
Page 6
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Road hauliers should be careful— they could get caught out playing politics.
The suggested Tory "Shadow" Road Transport Forum (see page 2) sounds like a capital wheeze, and another way of keeping up the pressure on the Government to scrap the punitive rates of fuel tax and VED.
But before everyone thinks it's the magic bullet that wins the battle, no one should forget why the Tories want to set it up.
At a time when the Government can shrug off criticism like water off a duck's back (and that says more about the weakness of Her Majesty's Opposition than the strength of New Labour), the fight for fairer taxation is a wonderful brick for William Hague et al to throw.
But truck operators should remember two things. First, politicians are fickle creatures. It was a Tory government that created the fuel escalator and now for it to be getting so hot under the collar about it smacks of hypocrisy.
Second, and importantly, the more the Tory party lends its weight to the fuel duty/VED debate, the more Gordon Brown is likely to dig his heels in over making any future concessions. "Responding to requests from industry" is permissible. "Caving into the Tory party" is unthinkable.
No one would deny that in the battle against crippling diesel and road tax the road transport industry needs all the allies it can get. But there are allies, and there are politicians.
If the Conservative party is so keen to help road hauliers, it begs the question: "What's in it for them... and us?"