Fuel duty battle may be won, but war isn’t over
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By Laura Hailstone THE HAULAGE industry has been given short-term relief from escalating fuel prices following the Chancellor’s pledge to scrap the planned January duty rise of 3ppl, as well as reducing the August 2012 from 5ppl to 3ppl.
The announcement by George Osborne in his autumn statement on Tuesday (29 November) is being seen as another victory for the FairFuelUK (FFUK) campaign, which was instrumental in getting the April duty rise abandoned.
“Without FFUK, this wouldn’t have happened,” says Geoff Dunning, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, one of the key FFUK supporters. “We’ve won another battle, but the war continues. We need a long-term strategy to tackle the problem of crippling fuel costs.” Theo De Pencier, chief executive of the Freight Transport Association and fellow FFUK backer, adds: “We have avoided a horrendous new year’s hangover; January’s rise would have cost the industry around £325m. But while we are relieved that the Chancellor has steered us out of immediate danger, it is obvious that getting the UK back on the road to recovery requires a longterm fuel duty strategy.
“The government must now look at taking more substantive steps to invoke a longer term fuel duty policy that doesn’t punish business, prevent growth and grind those wheels to a halt.” FFUK founder Peter Carroll says: “We have to keep ighting and win the argument that it’s better to cut duty because that will be what really gets the economy moving.”