Fuelling the crisis
Page 9
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A lot has been said about last September's fuel protests but there can be little doubt that we would not have won the concessions we did in Gordon Brown's pre-Budget statement without them. Unless you're Richard Turner of the FTA, that is, who tells us that the protests "did nothing to help the industry". One wonders exactly how Mr Turner believes these comments will help it.
In between, the concessions we got in November were carefully calculated as the minimum giveaway likely to keep the industry quiet. For evidence, look no further than the simple fact that our fuel prices remain way beyond those in other European countries.
There are, of course, three basic reasons for this: duty, duty and duty Whether or not oil companies make any money out of fuel retailing, around So% of the price still goes to the Treasury and this, not oil industry profit, is the dear battleground.
Despite Mr Turner's comments, the PTA is rightly calling for further cuts in duty and particularly for differentiation between private motorists and hauliers. The idea that such differentiation would prove too bureaucratic simply doesn't hold water. Plenty of rebate schemes already exist; cut-price dyed diesel for special applications is also proven; and advances in IT mean an electronic payment card could also be made to work without fuss.
With Budget day fixed, our message to Brown is clear: rethink your views and give this industry the tax break we all know it needs; or be seen to willfully ignore the plight of thousands more hauliers, many traditional Labour voters.
• See full Budget details on March 7 at www.road transport.net.