John Baron MP welcomes freeze to Fuel Duty

MP says lobbying campaign has paid off

John Baron MP has welcomed the Government’s decision to freeze Fuel Duty until the end of the year. Following decisions in last year’s Budget and the Autumn Statement to cut Fuel Duty and scrap Labour’s Fuel Duty ‘escalator’, this latest decision means Fuel Duty is now 10p per litre lower than Labour planned. John, together with many other MPs, had lobbied the Government on this issue.

John said:

“This is good news for hard pressed families and businesses in my constituency. It is pleasing that the Government has listened to our lobbying on this issue.”

Ends

Word Count: 110

Date: 27^th June 2012

Notes to Editors

• Labour’s planned 3ppl Fuel Duty rise in August delayed until January 2013. On 26 June 2012, George Osborne announced the Government would reverse Labour’s planned Fuel Duty rise, due to come into effect on 1 August 2012. The 3.02 pence per litre rise will be postponed until January 2013 (HMT Press Release, 26 June 2012, link; BBC News Online, 26 June 2012, link).

• Fuel Duty will have been frozen for 21 months under this Government by the end of this year.  Labour legislated for six rises to Fuel Duty for after the general election. The Government cut fuel duty by 1p in Budget 2011, and announced a series of changes to help families with the cost of fuel (HM Treasury, Budget 2011, p. 38; HM Treasury, Autumn Statement, November 2011).

• Abolition of Labour’s Fuel Duty Escalator. The 2011 Budget announced that the Government would abolish Labour’s Fuel Duty Escalator and replaced it with a Fair Fuel Stabiliser, which will limit any Fuel Duty rises when the international oil price rises above £45 a barrel (HM Treasury, Budget 2011).

• Families to save £159 by the end of this year compared to Labour’s plans. From April petrol duty has been a full 10 pence per litre lower than it would have been without our action in the Budget and last autumn. The further delay to Labour’s rise in Fuel Duty will mean that families will save £159 on filling up the average family car by the end of this year (HMT Press Release, 26 June 2012, link).

• Delaying Labour’s planned 3ppl Fuel Duty rise has been welcomed by business, motoring and rural groups.

• Federation of Small Businesses. Director General John Walker described the measure as ‘excellent news’ (John Walker, FSB, The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2012, link).

• Institute of Directors. ‘The Chancellor has made the right decision, and the wheels of commerce will turn more smoothly as a result’ (Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, ibid.).

• AA. ‘This is great news for all motorists as drivers will breathe an enormous sigh of relief with summer holidays about to take off’ (Edmund King, ITV News Online, 26 June 2012, link).

• Quentin Wilson of FairFuelUK. ‘The Government has listened and have acted for the good of struggling consumers across the UK. This is democracy at its very best where a Government and a Chancellor can review decisions, and act with fairness and common sense’ (Quentin Wilson, ibid.).

• Road Haulage Association. ‘The duty increase would have added £1,200 a year to the cost of running a truck. More widely, the Chancellor’s decision will be welcomed by businesses and consumers across the entire economy’ (Jack Semple, Road Haulage Association, ibid.).

• RAC Foundation. ‘This is good news for drivers and good news for the country’ (RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister, PA, 26 June 2012).

• Countryside Alliance. ‘the Chancellor’s decision is very welcome and a timely boost for the rural economy. Although times are tough in the countryside, where a car is an essential part of living, this freeze will go a long way to helping out hard-pressed rural motorists’ (Countryside Alliance executive chairman Barney White-Spunner, ibid.).