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Darling: No to Western Isles fuel duty cut
Page 11
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By Christopher Walton HAULIERS IN REMOTE areas of the UK will not get a reduced rate of fuel duty thanks to Chancellor Alistair Darling.
Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan has led a campaign for Westminster to adjust the tax system to reduce the price of fuel, which has to be shipped to the islands.
But the Chancellor has rejected the proposal. He claims that a fuel duty rebate area would be far too difficult to enforce.
Allan tells CM: "Because we pay a higher price for fuel, we also pay more VAT than anyone else. I believe the Western Isles probably has the most expensive fuel in the world.
"There needs to be a recognition that if the Western Isles is to contribute to the wider economy of the UK. then they have to make those businesses competitive."
Norman Mackay, director of John Mackay & Sons, a tipper operation on the Isle of Harris, Western Isles, says the higher cost of fuel is reflected in the price it charges for work.
"We just have to live with it. The customers pay at the end of the day, and it puts the costs up."
However, the Scottish Parliament Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee will now lobby both the Scottish and UK Government to reduce the price of fuel on the islands.
Last month the Office of Fair Trading made the decision to reject calls from Angus MacNeil MP for an official investigation (`Diesel galore? OFT rejects a Western Isles fuel survey...', CM 8 January).
• For more, log on to www.roadtransport.com