July 2008 Archives

The Times reports:

Alistair Darling scraps 2p fuel duty rise

From Times Online
July 16, 2008
Alistair Darling scraps 2p fuel duty rise

Philippe Naughton

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has bowed to massive public and political pressure and scrapped a 2p rise in fuel duty planned for this autumn.

The move emerged in a written answer to a parliamentary question and was confirmed in a Treasury statement shortly after official figures showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit was climbing at the fastest rate for more than 15 years.

Mr Darling announced in this year's Budget that he was deferring a long-scheduled 2p rise until October 1. With oil prices soaring - delivering a tax windfall to Government - motorists and hauliers have questioned both the need and the wisdom of a further rise in duty.

Today's move means that the planned rise has been deferred again, until at least April next year.

[...]

In its statement, the Treasury said that main road fuel duty rates would remain at 50.35p after October 1. "This is 17 per cent lower in real terms than in 1999," it said. "Consequential, planned increases in road fuel gases, biofuel duty rates and rebated oils rates will also be postponed."


[...]

The timing of this announcement is suspicious, and likely to have been influenced somewhat by the Labour government's poor opinion polls and desperation over the Glasgow East by-election in two weeks time.

The nonsense about being "lower in real terms than in 1999" would only be meaningful if none of the other taxes grabbed by the Treasury had gone up since then.


The Conservative Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne seems to be hinting that a future Conservative Government would "Do Something" about Fuel Duty on petrol and diesel.

The BBC reports:

Tories propose fuel duty changes

Sunday, 6 July 2008 16:37 UK

The Conservatives are proposing changes to the way fuel duty is calculated which they say would let government "share the pain" of rising prices.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told the BBC the party was looking at plans to cut fuel duty when oil prices rise and increase it when prices fall.

If introduced last March, fuel would now be 5p a litre cheaper, he said.

The Treasury told the BBC the proposals were a gamble which could leave a £3bn hole in the public finances.

Fuel duty is due to rise in October but there has been speculation the increase will be delayed due to soaring oil prices.

[...]

But Mr Osborne told BBC One's Andrew Marr programme: "We are proposing a totally different way of doing fuel duty.

"Under the current system you wait for Gordon Brown to drop hints at select committees or Alistair Darling to come on this programme to make hints about what he may or may not do with the 2p.

"Not only is that an insult to families who want some clear direction from the government, but it is also extremely destabilising for the public finances."

Record oil price

He said the consultation process on a "fair fuel stabiliser" would begin on Sunday and conclude by the end of the year when the party would come up with a fully worked-out proposal. The policy is not yet a firm party pledge.

"What this would mean is that when the price of oil goes up, fuel duty comes down to help families, but the quid pro quo is that when the price of oil falls the duty goes up," said Mr Osborne.

"So government is sharing the pain of rising oil prices, but the government is also sharing the gain when oil prices fall."

[...]

How exactly would this work in practice ?

Presumably it is somewhere in between the current evil grasping Labour Government fuel tax regime, which, because of its fixed fuel duty plus periodic increases, plus VAT on top of that, grabs excessive taxes from the public as the price of crude oil rises, and a simpler fixed percentage tax which is automatically linked to the price of fuel at the refinery gate e.g. no Fuel Duty , but a VAT rate of 20% on fuel.

Is this is good idea ? How will they pay for any shortfall in public finances ? WiIl they make the tax collection system more or less complicated and bureaucratic ?

You can read the Conservative's Consultation Document:

A Fair Fuel Stabiliser: A consultation on the future of fuel taxation (.pdf)

[...]

Under a Fair Fuel Stabiliser, when fuel prices go up, fuel duty would fall. And when fuel prices go down, fuel duty would rise.

[...]

5.1 The closing date for responses to this consultation is 19 December 2008.

5.2 Responses should be sent to:

Fair Fuel Stabiliser Consultation

Office of the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

5.3 Or by email to contact@georgeosborne.co.uk Please include the words 'Fair Fuel Stabiliser Consultation' in the subject.

5.4 Responses to this consultation will be used to inform our policy development
process.

Presumably, the relatively lengthy consultation period is designed to tempt the unpopular Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his hapless Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, to try their usual NuLabour "political triangulation" trick of responding, to Tory taxation ideas, and then spinning the media, and pretending that they thought of it themselves (like the capital gains tax idea), before the next scheduled 2p per litre rise in Fuel Duty is confirmed or is abandoned in October.

Is Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling actually in control of fuel and transport taxes ?

Following yesterday's successful Transaction 2007 organised fuel protests in London by lorry drivers, The Times reports:

Brown pre-empts Darling with signal that fuel duty rise will not go ahead

From Times Online
July 3, 2008

Philip Webster, Political Editor


Gordon Brown gave his strongest signal yet today that the Government will not go ahead with the planned 2p-a-litre increase in fuel duty due in the autumn.

Giving evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee, the Prime Minister virtually pre-empted his Chancellor by saying that past increases had not been implemented.

"I think you will find that in most years since 2000 that the duty has actually been frozen," he said.

Mr Brown said any decision on fuel duty would be for Alistair Darling in his Pre-Budget Report in the autumn. He added however: "It is clearly a matter that will be looked at very, very carefully over the next few weeks."

It was the second day in a row that Mr Darling has found others making concessions for him.

Labour MPs admitted yesterday that they had been told by the whips that he would make changes in his controversial plan to charge higher excise duty on heavy polluting cars bought since 2002. The Treasury ministers gave no such guarantee in the debate but MPs believed the whips and the Government won the day. Only six Labour MPs voted against the Government, even though 50 had voiced their concerns.

[...]

The Prime Minister said that the Government would be bringing forward further measures to help low income families with their fuel bills.

"If we can take measures that will help people cut their energy bills by using energy more efficiently or finding a way that we can help them cut the consumption of energy we will do so," he said.

There is no technical barrier to Gordon Brown / Alistair Darling doing that right now, with the stroke of a pen, only the political and economic mess which they are responsible for.

Another Transaction 2007 organised fuel protest by lorry drivers is planned for tomorrow in central London.

The Daily Mail is reporting that

Daily_Mail_website_confuses_John_Hutton_with_John_Denham_300.jpg

Cabinet minister leads revolt over 2p fuel tax rise as lorry drivers plan biggest protest yet

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:44 AM on 01st July 2008

A senior Cabinet minister is leading ministers in a revolt against the planned autumn rise in fuel tax.

Business Secretary John Hutton is reported to be demanding an immediate pledge that the 2p-a-litre rise will be cancelled.

The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform is such a bland NuLabour political nonentity, that the Daily Mail website article has the wrong photo. It is actually of Rt. Hon. John Denham MP, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Several other ministers have also urged Chancellor Alistair Darling to drop the tax increase before Parliament starts its summer holiday in three weeks, in order to prevent public anger spiralling over soaring prices at the pumps.

Labour MPs had already been demanding an immediate U-turn on plans to backdate new car taxes, that critics say will hit family motorists, and extra compensation for a million losers from the axing of the 10p tax band.

Mr Darling is standing firm against all three rebellions.

[...]

Will this protest, actually get through to the unpopular and incompetent Labour politicians who are clinging on to power in the Downing Street bunker ?

Protests at remote oil refineries, or even on the motorways, are all very well, but they do not have as much mainstream media impact as ones in Central London.

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

Syndicate this site (XML):

Recent Comments

November 2018

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30