May 2008 Archives

The Sun tabloid newspaper is now campaigning against the exorbitant fuel taxes, which are higher in the UK than in many other countries.

Will the Labour politicians stop snooping and listening in on the public, and start listening to their anger and frustration ?

Pumped dry UK sick of fuel tax

The Sun
Friday 30th May 2008

By DAVID WOODING
Whitehall Editor,
and LYNSEY HAYWOOD

BRITAIN would have the cheapest diesel in Europe if Labour's punitive taxes were axed, it emerged yesterday.

But nearly 60p in every Pound paid at the pump goes straight into Treasury coffers -- making our diesel the dearest.

Today The Sun launches a backlash campaign against sky high fuel prices to find the cheapest forecourts in Britain.

And we urge our army of readers to boycott those pumping up prices.

The huge sums siphoned off by the Government were revealed in figures put out by Business Secretary John Hutton.

They also reveal that the UK has Europe's second-lowest prices for unleaded petrol before tax and duty.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is poised to ditch plans to slap an extra 2p duty on fuel from October amid rising public anger.

But yesterday's figures prove millions of motorists are already being clobbered every time they fill up.

Our diesel costs 48.8p a litre before tax and duty are added. But at the pump, with 58 per cent tax added, it averages 116.6p.

[...]

Meanwhile Tories seized on Mr Hutton's fuel tax figures to blame Labour for rip-off prices and rising household bills.

Shadow Treasury minister Philip Hammond said: "Gordon Brown's claim that world oil prices are the cause of the soaring costs is exposed as a sham."

PM Gordon Brown hopes his call for increased North Sea oil production will ease the crisis.

But yesterday Sun readers were demanding more action.

Shop worker James Read, 32, said: "The cost of fuel is crippling. I just can't afford to go anywhere."

[...]

Surely the media column inches obsessed spin doctors will communicate this anger through to their out of touch political bosses, dithering in the Downing Street bunker, with this clear message from Rupert Murdoch's media empire and from the public ?

Yesterday's fuel protests by road hauliers organised by Transaction 2007 did achieve excellent mass media coverage.

Clearly Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his glove puppet of a Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling have had their Whitsun holiday interrupted, and they are now waffling about somehow exhorting international oil exporting countries to increase production, something which has never worked in the past.

They are also giving mixed signals about the issue of the October fuel duty increase - is it going to be scrapped or not ?

The media have also piled on the political pressure by claiming that there is also going to be reversal of the unfair increase in car tax on vehicles registered after 2001 (why could this not just apply to new vehicles ?), quoting Cabinet Ministers Jack Straw and John Hutton, but there seems to be some backsliding on this from the Treasury.

There also seems to be some media spin about as yet undefined promises to Do Something About "fuel poverty".

Is that going to be another 10p tax fiasco bribe, if so, where does the money come from ?

Will it involve another intrusive, demeaning and wasteful bureaucratic disaster like Gordon Brown's tax credit system ?

Meanwhile, Tuesday's electricity power cuts, affecting hundreds of thousands of consumers, including hospitals etc. show how precarious the National Grid is, due to the lack of investment, caused by Gordon Brown's taxation policies.

The fact that the electricity companies deliberately withheld details from the public, of when electricity supplies were likely to be restored, for "commercial market reasons", show another aspect of the dubious Enron style energy speculation artificial market which was introduced by this Labour Government.

Surely this highly regulated market has failed, once there are actual power cuts to hospitals etc., and trading in energy capacity futures should be temporarily suspended ?

There was also news yesterday that the de-commissioning costs of old nuclear power stations is set to increase by an unknown number of billions of pounds, from the current £73 billion estimate.

Everywhere you look, there is a Fuel Crisis, over which this Government is failing - they only ever seem to promise to "tackle" or "address" such problems, but they never actually "solve" any of them.

There is a window of opportunity to get the Government to change their wretched energy and fuel policies, in the hope of saving themselves from political oblivion, provided that the angry public keep up the pressure on them.

Keep protesting and keep lobbying the politicians (of all parties).

The next planned Fuel Protest by haulers and farmers etc. organised by Transaction-2007.com is set for this coming Tuesday 27th May 2008.

This has a far better chance of attracting some main stream media coverage than the previous one which was predictably swamped by the Local Election night coverage.

Whilst the NuLabour cult currently in Government agonises on how to cling on to power over the Parliamentary Whitsun recess, perhaps some of them might now consider putting some political pressure on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reduce the crippling fuel price and tax increases.

If you happen to meet a Labour politician over the Whitsun recess, make sure that they understand how strongly you feel about this issue (try to restrain the understandable urge to argue with your fists).

If you are unfortunate enough to have a Labour MP who is supposed to represent your views, this week would be a very good time to write to them over fuel prices, tax and energy policies. - you can do this conveniently online via WriteToThem.com. If you have a non-Labour MP, it is also worth writing in as well, but this is less likely to have an immediate effect.

See the Sunday Telegraph report

Details of the Transaction 2007 protest:

One does have to wonder at the media communications strategy of these fuel protestors - they are incredibly lucky that they got any broadcast media coverage at all on Local Election night, of all nights.

The newspapers will , rightly, ignore this protest in favour of Local Election and Mayor of London stories.

The BBC reports:

BBC news Thursday, 1 May 2008 00:49 UK

Refinery protest over fuel prices

About 100 farmers and hauliers have staged a demonstration outside the Stanlow Oil Refinery at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire over rising fuel prices.

Protesters stood at the entrance of the plant and had blocked about 50 lorries from entering by about 2300 BST.

Cheshire police said they were notified just after 2030 BST and officers were called to the scene.

The protesters later moved off the road and vehicles were moving freely in and out of the refinery.

Police said about 40 or 50 protesters remained at the refinery's gates in the early hours of Friday.

The Stanlow plant was at the centre of the fuel protests in 2000 that caused some stations to run out of petrol.

'Massive profits'

One of the hauliers told the BBC: "It's affecting all of us. It's not just hauliers and farmers - although they are being crippled by the costs - it's going to have a knock on effect on everyone - in rising fuel costs and higher prices of food on the shelves in shops."

A protester said hauliers and farmers were being made bankrupt while companies still made a profit.

He said: "People are going out of business left, right and centre and no-one seems to care.

"Oil companies are still announcing massive profits and the government are taking massive amounts of tax - and they want to put another 2p on in October.

"They've got to bring it down it down again. Something must be done or this country's industry will be lost."

Police said the protest was peaceful and no arrests had been made.

The clear implication of the last bit of this story, is that the media will not actually be too interested, unless there are actual arrests of fuel protestors.

About this blog

This United Kingdom based blog attempts to draw public attention to, and to comment on, the Fuel Crisis caused by UK Government policy on energy i.e. petrol, diesel, LPG for use in vehicles, and for electricity generation, and the knock on effects on transport, food, domestic heating costs etc.

For a country with North Sea Oil and Gas,why are fuel prices so expensive in the United Kingdom ?

Most of the price for fuel that we pay is Tax to Her Majesty's Treasury, not directly anything to do with the world price of petroleum.

Is it really going to take blockades and protests in the streets again, like in 2000 under the Labour government, before the Conservative / Liberal Democrat Coalition Government listens to the people and abolishes the tax increases on fuel, which has reached over £1 £1.40 per litre of petrol in many areas ?

Or are they going to mismanage the Fuel Crisis, yet again, but this time invoke their Emergency Powers under the Civil Contingencies Act, or using the vast sureveillance powers of the state to snoop on peaceful protestors ?

Email Contact

Please feel free to email us your views about this blog, or news about the issues it tries to comment on:

info @ fuel-crisis.org.uk

If you want to send us something confidential, then you can use our PGP public encryption key

UK Fuel Price and Tax statistics

Various statistics on Fuel Prices and rates of Fuel Duty and VAT, are published by the misnamed Department of Energy and Climate Change:

Energy statistics: prices, where you "can download annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly statistics in Microsoft Excel 2000 format"

The Weekly Fuel Prices Table (.xls) is updated each Tuesday at 9.30 am.

Government Website Links

WriteToThem Identify and Contact your Member of Parliament, Members of the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, European Parliament etc,

No. 10 Downing Street Prime Minister Tony Blair Gordon Brown gets David Cameron gets hundreds of thousands of letters and emails a year. It is possible to write to or email the Prime Minister, but do not expect him to actuually read your message, let alone respond to it personally.


Her Majesty's Treasury
Complain to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown Alistair Darling George Osborne:
"Emails and letters for the Chancellor and his ministerial team come in the first instance into HM Treasury's Correspondence and Enquiry Unit and then are sent into the Chancellor's Private Office. All correspondence received is replied to, within 15 working days and so you will receive a response."

To email the Chancellor or the ministerial team, the address is:

ministers@ hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk

and to send a letter the address is:

Rt Hon George Osborne MP,
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
HM Treasury,
1 Horse Guards Road,
LONDON SW1A 2HQ

You can also fax correspondence on:
020 7270 4580


Consumer Focus - the former Energy Watch independent watchdog for gas and electricity consumers has been amalgamted into Consumer Focus

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets - the regulator for Britain's gas and electricity industries.

Department of Energy and Climate Change

The Government Department which is supposed to be coming up with and implementing some sort of strategic Energy Policy for the United Kingdom, was shunted off in October 2008 into the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change, to make way for the return of the twice disgraced Peter Mandleson's return to the Cabinet.

The useless Minister put in charge was Ed Miliband, the younger brother of the equally useless, yet ambitious, Foreign Secretary David Miliband (another example of NuLabour nepotism). - It turns out that both brothers were ambitious for power and Ed Miliband is now the Leader of the Labour party, which is proving to be as incompetent in regard to Energy Policy and Fuel Prices in Opposition, as it was when in power.

The lack of continuity of Ministers in charge of this department has continued under the Coalition, with the Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne resigning to clear his name of driving offence allegations.

The Ministerial team who might make announcements about Energy Policy, or who will be flying off at public expense, to international conferences etc. representing the UK, and who you might wish to write to or lobby in person, are:

So far, these Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government politicians have not been much of an improvement over their incompetent and authoritarian Labour predecessors.

DECC Contact Us web page.

Department of Energy and Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2HD

General enquiries:
0300 060 4000
[standard national rate)

Email: correspondence@decc.gsi.gov.uk

"Enquiries from journalists should always be directed to the DECC Press Office, either as per the IPO Directory (White Book) or via the Enquiry Unit on 0300 060 4000. The out-of-hours number for urgent press enquiries is 020 7215 3505."

The top civil servant is the Permanent Secretary Moira Wallace
email: perm.sec@decc.gsi.gov.uk

The DECC Corporate Governance page list some more of the top civil servants and publishes reports about some of their foreign trips and expenses paid by th etax payer.

N.B. these do not reveal all the extremely rich Energy Company vested interest lobbying activity which obviously influences them more than the plight of the log suffering general public.

Protest Website Links

Fuel Tax Protest - low turnout protests in 2005

Farmers for Action some of the organisers of the fuel protests in 2000

Road Haulage Association

Fuelprotest.com online petition

Fuel Website Links

Automobile Association summary of UK and Oversease fuel prices

Rip-Off Britain

Fuel Industry Links

UK Petroleum Industry Association - made up of the 9 companies the main oil refineries in the UK.

UK Petroleum Industry Association Ltd,
Quality House
Quality Court Tel: 020 7269 7600
E-mail: info@ukpia.com
www.ukpia.com

BP Oil UK Ltd, Witan Gate House, 500/ 600 Witan Gate, Milton Keynes, MK9 1ES
Tel: 01908 853000,
www.bp.com

ConocoPhillips, ConocoPhillips Centre, 2 Kingmaker Court, Warwick Technology Park, Warwick CV34 6DB
Tel: 01926 404000
www.conocophillips.co.uk

Esso UK Ltd, ExxonMobil House, Ermyn Way, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8UX
Tel: 01372 222000
www.exxonmobil.co.uk

Ineos Refining, INEOS Group Ltd., Hawkslease, Chapel Lane, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7FG
Tel: 0238 0287067
www.ineosrefining.com

Murco Petroleum Ltd, 4 Beaconsfield Road, St.Albans, AL1 3RH
Tel: 01727 892400
www.murco.co.uk

Petroplus UK, St. Mark`s Court, Teesdale, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 6QW
Tel: 01642 736101
www.petroplusholdings.co.uk

Shell UK Ltd, Shell Centre, York Road, London SE1 7NA
Tel: 020 7257 3000
www.shell.co.uk

ChevronTexaco Ltd, 1 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London E14 4HA
Tel: 020 7719 3000
www.texaco.com

Total UK Ltd, 40 Clarendon Road, Watford WD1 2TQ
Tel: 01923 694000
www.total.com

Energy Networks Association represents the licensed gas and electricity transmission and distribution companies in the UK.

ENA member companies

Blog Links

Spy Blog - civil liberties, security, privacy, technology, legislation

Global Guerrillas - John Robb

NuLabour blog

ParliamentProtest.org.uk blog - opposition to the curtailment of peacefule demonstrations and protests around Parliament and Whitehall and beyond.

Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers and Political Dissidents

The hints and tips below are just as important to anybody organising a peaceful Fuel Protest, as they are to other people who might come under UK Government or Multinational Corporation surveillance for their political activties.

Please take the appropriate precautions if you are planning to blow the whistle on shadowy and powerful people in Government or commerce, and their dubious policies. The mainstream media and bloggers also need to take simple precautions to help preserve the anonymity of their sources e.g. see Spy Blog's Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers - or use this easier to remember link: http://ht4w.co.uk

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