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RHA calls for fuel duty freeze
Page 9
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THE ROAD Haulage Association (RHA) has written to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, to ask him to freeze fuel duty and defer the 2p/ litre rise which was announced in the last Budget.
RHA chief executive Roger King has argued that with last week's raw oil prices rising to almost $79 a barrel (09), the price of diesel in the UK is the highest it has been all year.
-Diesel is the same price now as it was when Gordon Brown froze fuel duty last time," says RHA policy director Jack Semple. "We therefore think that holding the increase would he appropriate.
in the letter, King points out the high price of diesel exacerbates the competitive disadvantage UK hauliers face against foreign rivals.
If the duty increase goes ahead, "in October, this will mean a fuel price differential of around 28p/litre, a huge competitive disadvantage", he says.
Geoff Dossetter, external affairs director at the Freight Transport Association, says: -We are currently formulating a letter and will send it out in the next 24 hours. We hope the government will take the line it has done in the past and impose a further freeze on fuel duty. We would certainly look towards the Chancellor, who has experience with this industry, to show some sympathy."