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Paying the price
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Nothing polarises opinion in the industry like the price of fuel. As CM maps the average price at the pumps around the UK, we discover politicians, hauliers and the trade associations are all divided as to how to quell. the rising discontent.
Vit)i LIS; i...tiristopilur Watton HE QUESTION on road transport's Ds at the moment is: 'Can fuel duty be .eaten'?' We can't offer a quick answer that, but one surefire way you can !ep your costs down is by keeping close eye on the prices at the pumps. Despite the Chancellor promising yet iother fuel duty rise in September (that ill make three since 1 December 2008), e average diesel price at the pump Toss the UK stands at 102.78p per litre ,ccording to the AA Fuel Price Report), ; opposed to the peak in July 2008 of l3p per litre — roughly 23% lower than ne months ago.
In fact, as the recession swept through UK in the new year, the UK was tjoying a relatively purple patch for .el prices. The average price of diesel :wed below 100p per litre between ecember 2008 and March (for the cord, the February average was 100.78p litre, but that was still a major drop )mpared to a year ago).
According to the Office of National atistics, the pressure hit in the summer hen fuel prices escalated quickly to a ily peak of 133p per litre — the decline is been similarly dramatic (see graph). But prices are beginning to creep up ;ain. The jump between the March average of 99.8p per litre and April's 102.8p per litre might be 3p, but that did include a 1.83p per litre fuel duty rise on April Fools' Day, which means more than 60% of that increase went directly into the Treasury's coffers.
Political issues
So, with Labour laying out its plans for fuel duty, would a change of government to the Conservatives bring anything different to the table?
Fuel duty as a political issue tends to fall along party divisions. On 28 April, MPs voted for amendments to the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979, with 333 'ayes' cast mainly by Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs and 183 'nos' from Conservatives, along with the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the parties from Northern Ireland.
Robert Goodwill, the shadow roads minister, says: "Labour's fuel tax rise is the worst of both worlds — fuel taxes will be higher when oil prices are low, but they won't fall when prices rise. Our Fair Fuel Stabiliser is designed to help with the cost of living when prices rise."
The Fair Fuel Stabiliser proposal, designed to reduce fuel duty when fuel prices go up, and raise it when fuel prices go down, might, in Goodwill's words, help families, so there is a chance it could help hauliers out, too.
The SNP's transport spokesman and MP for the Wes tern Isles,Angus MacNeil, has more targeted comments for the road transport industry: "Pushing up fuel prices is completely the wrong thing to do in the grip of recession; this increase will hinder economic recovery.
"Just when the Treasury should be stimulating the economy, the increase will hit already-hard-pressed businesses, and the haulage industry, in particular."
He continues: "Currently, fuel duty accounts for about 71p of every pound hauliers spend on fuel. These latest tax hikes are yet another blow to a vital industry pushed to the brink by unpredictable fuel prices and relentless taxation.
"Action must be taken at Westminster to ease the pressure on this essential sector, which will help pull us out of recession. That's why the SNP will revisit the fuel duty regulator — a workable proposal to stabilise fuel prices"
Taking action
The fuel duty regulator would result in an automatic freeze on fuel
EAST duty increases if world oil prices
--. rose above levels forecast by the
...A. e Chancellor and a parallel ...A. e Chancellor and a parallel 1E1.0 knee reduction in duty to match
the extra revenue from VAT from higher pump prices. Last July, the proposal, included as an amendment to the Finance Bill, was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons.
At the same time, with fuel prices hitting record levels, hauliers took to the streets One of the men behind 2008's fuel protests has told CM not to rule out further action.
TransAction 2007 organiser Mike Presneill, of Kent-based tipper operator Presneill Tipper Contractors, says the organisation is:"... taking stock of the situation with regards to the industry and fuel duty in 2009''. It changed its website's homepage to read: "We watched Mr Darling's budget with interest! The UK Haulage Industry
has had enough fuel duty increas( now.., be warned, Mr Darling! We WI be taking action!"
Presneill adds: "The sleeping dog hz woken. We need to make some noises.'
He also hopes to make his case the Treasury by September.
However, outgoing Road Haulag Association chief executive Roger Kin says it is their belief there is not a appetite for the same kind of action see last summer.
"TransAction is sometimes critical ( the trade associations, saying all they d is talk, but we want to get in front of tL Treasury and talk. We've written to tt Exchequer Secretary Angela Eagl asking that the 2p per litre be change into an equivalent increase VAT rat so hauliers can claim back the increase.
"We've conducted surveys of ot members and they don't want to engag in any action. Protests are a good safei valve for hauliers letting off steam, bi members want to leave the politic side to the RHA and the Freig,1 Transport Association." •