Archive for the ‘Conservative Party’ Category
Conservative plan for a fuel duty stabiliser will be a welcome relief for drivers as petrol prices hit an all-time high
It was back in 2008 that George Osborne first announced Tory plans for a fuel duty stabiliser – an idea which was first proposed by Andrew Lilico.
The idea is simple: when the oil price is high, the fuel duty will be lowered, and vice versa.
And little would George Osborne have known in 2008 that the 2010 general election would be fought at a time when the price of petrol would be hitting an all-time high at £1.20 a litre – nearly £6 a gallon in “old money”.
And today’s Telegraph suggests that right now the introduction of the fuel duty stabiliser would probably see the price of petrol at the pump today being reduced by 10p a litre under the Conservative plan:
“The move will be funded from the increased taxes the Government raises from other levies on oil companies when wholesale prices rise… However, it is likely to prove controversial when oil prices fall as fuel duty will rise again.”
“The details of the scheme – including the price at which petrol will “stabilise” – will be the subject of a consultation launched soon after a Conservative election victory. It is expected to be launched within months if Mr Cameron is successful.
“Last night, a senior Conservative source said: “We are very straight with people. This is not a tax giveaway – instead it is a sensible, balanced policy that protects families from big increases in the oil price. When the oil price rockets, the tax falls and the petrol price at the pump stays stable – and vice-versa when the oil price falls.”
The public anger at the cost of petrol should not be underestimated and this policy provides another popular doorstep-ready policy for Conservatives to take to the electorate.
Jonathan Isaby
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Fuel Tax
Fuel tax is an imposed sales tax put on the sale of fuel. Frequently, fuel tax is looked upon as a source of general revenue, with some being put towards the maintenance of roads and highways.
Fuel Tax in the UK
Fuel tax in the UK is constantly changing and has risen steadily over the last 15 years. Between 1993 and 1999 there was a rapid increase with duties on fuel increasing by 3% above inflation. This was due to a major change in petrol taxation in 1993 when the Conservatives introduced the Fuel Price ‘escalator’. This was a way of the government making money and also to help protect the environment by discouraging people from using their cars.
Fuel Escalator Forces Prices Up
This fuel escalator forced prices up from one of the lowest in Europe to now one of the most expensive. When it was first added, fuel prices rose by 3 pence a litre and tax contributed to 72.8% of the total cost. By 1997 the escalator had added 11.1p to the cost of unleaded petrol and was at 75%. It didn’t get any better when the conservatives left office and Gordon Brown took over, as the escalator increased and 3 pence was added per litre. This took tax up to an incredible 81.5% of the total price of fuel.
Fuel Tax and the 2000 Fuel Protests
Despite the fuel escalator being abandoned in 1999, fuel prices did continue to rise rapidly, with a 2 pence a litre rise after the 2000 budget, contributing to the fuel protest. These rises were however argued by the government to be as a result of increasing oil costs rather than tax increases. This argument does hold some truth when we look at the graph above, showing that although the overall price of fuel has risen, the percentage of tax has stayed relatively constant and even dropped slightly this year.
In April 2005, tax on petrol and diesel were charged at 47.1 pence a litre which with VAT added also, the total taxation makes up a huge 69.9% of the price we paid for unleaded and 67.3% for diesel.
British drivers pay two taxes on petrol they buy at the pump and fuel campaigners complain about the fact that VAT is charged on the cost of fuel and the duty and feel it should only be calculated on the cost of the fuel for a fairer petrol price.
Duty on fuel in the UK increased again on 1 October 2007, with an increase of 2.00 pence a litre on unleaded and diesel and an even greater increase on LPG and natural gas. See the fuel duty for all fuels below:
2007 Fuel Tax Figures
2007 fuel duty (as of 1 October 2007) in the United Kingdom was:
- 50.35 pence per litre for ultra-low sulphur unleaded petrol/diesel
- 53.65 pence per litre for conventional unleaded petrol
- 56.94 pence per litre for conventional diesel
- 30.35 pence per litre for bio-diesel and bio ethanol – low tax to encourage consumer conversion
- 16.49 pence per kg for gas other than natural gas (LPG)
- 13.70 pence per kg for natural gas used as road fuel.
- 9.69 pence per litre for rebated gas oil (red diesel)
- 9.29 pence per litre for rebated fuel oil
As of 1 October 2007 effective rates of duty for non-road fuels increased by 2 ppl. These rates are set to be increased by the same percentage as the main road fuels on 1 April 2008 and again on 1 April 2009.
From 1 October 2007 duty rates for unleaded petrol, leaded petrol, aviation gasoline and other heavy oil used as road fuel were increased by the same percentage as the main road fuels.
2009 Fuel Tax Figures
2009 fuel duty (as of 1 September 2009) in the United Kingdom is:
- 56.19 pence per litre for main road fuels, unleaded petrol and diesel
- 65.91 pence per litre for leaded petrol
- 36.19 pence per litre for biodiesel and bioethanol
- 22.16 pence per kg for road fuel natural gas
- 27.67 pence per kg for road fuel liquefied petroleum gas (‘LPG’)
On 1 December 2008 a permanent 2p increase in fuel tax was introduced to offset the rate cut in VAT from 17.5% to 15% bringing the duty rate for the main road fuels up to 52.35p per litre.
On 1 April 2009 the duty rate for unleaded petrol and diesel was icreased by 1.84 ppl to 54.19p per litre and again on 1 September 2009 by 2 ppl to reach the current level of 56.19 per litre. These rates will be increased further on 1 April 2010 to 2013 by 1ppl above indexation each year.
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Liberal Democrat VAT bombshell explodes in Vince Cable’s face
Earlier in the week the Liberal Democrats launched a poster, warning of a VAT bombshell if the Conservatives won. Cross-examined by BBC1′s Politics Show today the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesman admitted that the idea of a £389 bombshell was conjecture and conceded that he couldn’t rule out a hike in VAT. Transcript below.
JON SOPEL: I mean let’s leave aside whether or whether not there is a black hole in the Tories’ finances. Leave that to one side. You don’t know factually, that they are going to raise VAT. That is your conjecture.
VINCE CABLE: It is a conjecture and it’s a reasonable assumption and I wouldn’t claim anymore than that.
JON SOPEL: And that £389 is a rough figure plucked –
VINCE CABLE: It’s a ball park estimate of what it would require in order to fill that gap, and it seems a reasonable way of expressing that argument.”
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JON SOPEL: Would you rule out raising VAT?
VINCE CABLE: No, I don’t. It’s something –
JON SOPEL: So therefore your position is no different to them.”
Well done Mr Sopel. Vince Cable is a serial flip-flopper.
Tim Montgomerie
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Conservatives will Recognise marriage in the tax system
A Conservative Government will introduce a recognition of marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system.
“This is sending a signal that we understanding the value of commitment”, said David Willetts.
“Britain is unique in the raw deal one earner couples get”, he added. Most European countries recognise marriage in the tax system.
The proposed recognition will take the form of a partially transferable personal allowance for all married couples and civil partnerships.
- One member of an eligible couple will be able to transfer £750 of their tax free personal allowance to their partner in order to reduce their partner’s income tax bill. This will be limited to basic rate taxpayers and is therefore worth up to £150 a year per couple at the 20% rate of tax. In 1999, its final year before it was abolished for all but pensioner couples, the Married Couples Allowance was worth £197 per couple per year.
- The additional transferable allowance will be tapered away at incomes above £42,500 so that no higher rate taxpayer earning £44,000 or more will benefit.
- Eligible couples where one partner is not using all of their tax free personal allowance and the other earns between £6,600 and £44,000 will be up to £150 a year better off.
- The full benefit of £150 goes to eligible couples where the main earner earns between £7,300 and £42,500.
The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate that this will cost about £550 million. This will be paid for using some of the revenues from a levy on banks that will raise more than £1 billion. The remaining revenues will be used to reduce the deficit.
This is a progressive tax measure, with two thirds of the benefits going to families in the lower half of the income distribution. The biggest gains as a percentage of income go to households in the third decile of the income distribution. 4 million out of a total 12.3 million married couples will benefit.
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Conservatives – Three strikes policy to crack down on benefit fraud
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa May has announced a new ‘three strikes’ policy to crack down on those who repeatedly defraud the benefits system.
This comes as new analysis reveals that under Labour benefit overpayments due to fraud and error have cost £80 a second since 1997.
“For too long Labour have let benefit cheats play the system, costing the taxpayer millions”, May said.
“It is astounding that since 1997 welfare waste has cost the public £80 every second”.
- In total, Labour have wasted over £30 billion on fraud and error between 1997-98 and 2008-09. £14 billion of that has been wasted on benefit fraud.
- The Department for Work and Pensions has had its accounts qualified for the last 20 years due to the high level of fraud and error in the benefits system
- Between 2004-05 and 2008-09, only 143,838 people have been sanctioned for benefit fraud
The Conservatives have announced new plans to introduce tougher benefit sanctions for those found guilty of benefit fraud. This is about targeting the minority of those who are undermining the integrity of the benefits system.
Those who commit benefit fraud once will lose their out-of-work benefits for three months, a second offence will attract a benefit sanction of six months, and if someone commits fraud three times they face losing their out-of-work benefits for up to three years.
This is a big increase in the penalty, from the current situation where fraudulent claimants lose a maximum of 13 weeks benefit entitlement.
May said the Conservatives will “send out a strong message to people who fleece the taxpayer- you could lose your out of work benefits for three years”.
“This is about fairness. While the whole country is tightening its belt it’s scandalous that thousands are managing to defraud the taxpayer out of billions.”
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Britain: Billions of pounds in the Red thanks to Labour – Annabel Goldie MSP
Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative Leader, says:
“Labour’s mismanagement of Britain’s economy has been catastrophic. Debt interest payments alone will soon reach £60 billion, twice the entire amount spent on Scotland’s health service, schools, police, roads and local services every year.
“Scotland’s share of Labour’s debt mountain is an estimated £72 billion. We need a government with a credible plan and the political resolve to put Britain back in the black. The risk of 5 more years of Labour is more waste, higher tax, a worse credit rating, higher interest rates and higher mortgages. Britain is billions of pounds in the red as a result of Labour’s mismanagement of the economy.
“In Scotland, the Conservatives have helped tens of thousands of businesses weather the worst of Labour’s economic storm by ensuring business rates were cut or abolished, a move which the Federation of Small Businesses says has prevented 1 in 8 small firms from going bust.
“We have to deliver that kind of real help right across the United Kingdom.
“That is why a Conservative Government would scrap Labour’s tax on jobs, get credit flowing again, protect and create jobs to boost the recovery, and get to grips with Labour’s debt. Dither and delay would risk the recovery, not help it. The time has come for action, and for change.”
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Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on election “two horse race”
The rank hypocrisy of Nick Clegg on “two-horse races”
Nick Clegg claimed a couple of days ago that the general election is not a two-horse race.
As the BBC reports, he said:
“This isn’t the old politics of a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservative Party.”
For anyone familiar with Liberal Democrat election literature in their target seats, this claim from their leader will come as something of a surprise.
Take, for example, the below leaflet the party has been distributing in Sheffield Hallam, where the Lib Dem candidate is “local campaigner” and incumbent MP, er, Nick Clegg:
Forgetting the disingenuously skewed graph for a moment, if it’s a two-horse race in Sheffield Hallam on account of the Labour Party starting in a distant third place on 19%, then what difference is there with the national battle at this election – where the Liberal Democrats start a distant third with a similar percentage of the vote and fewer than 10% of the seats?
People of Britain: it’s a two-horse race here – only the Conservatives can beat to win this general election and form a government. Voting Lib Dem only helps the Labour Party remain in office.
Jonathan Isaby
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Jim Ferguson announces launch of political campaign Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey Highlands Scotland UK
May 6th has now been officially declared as the date of the next General Election.
Over the last two years I have been a serious political Candidate and campaigned hard during this time.
Visiting every area, holding regular coffee mornings and surgeries, canvassing and leading from the front.
The people of this region deserve to be heard and the weakness shown by those currently in office, to properly represent the people of the Highlands needs to come to an end.
My main motivation for standing is to ensure that real support is brought to the Highlands and the people of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. My desire to bring the high degree of support that a Conservative Government would bring and to do so it is imperative that this region elects me to represent them in Parliament.
Out of every other Candidate who is standing, only I will have the ability, as a member of the party in power to get the investment and infrastructure to ensure that the businesses and people of this region get the top support they deserve.
All the other Candidates will be in opposition and can only ask what they will of a Conservative Government.
I would remind everyone that I would be the MP of the party in power and it is that thought that I ask you to seriously consider.
This General Election is a clear choice. A vote for any other party will help to keen Gordon Brown in power.
Do you want Gordon Brown for another 5 years or David Cameron as Prime Minister?
I would ask that every person in this region look closely at what I can offer. It’s time to play this to your advantage and ensure this region gets the strongest support from a Conservative Government possible. If you have never voted Conservative before, you need to seriously consider doing so now.
I am not a career politican, I have worked hard all my life with a family business that I started from scratch 16 years ago.
If you invest your trust in me, you can be certain of having an honest and hard working MP who understands what you are all going through and who acknowledges that your concerns and interests are my concerns and interests.
It’s time for change and true representation for the people who live and work in this region.
Make your vote count – there is much at stake!
Jim Ferguson
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May 6th announced as date of General Election UK
The General Election is finally called
Tuesday, April 6 2010
David Cameron has welcomed the official announcement of the General Election date.
The election is a choice between five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse - or change with the Conservatives, who have the energy, leadership and values to get Britain moving again.
Speaking to supporters this morning, David Cameron will say that the Consevatives are “fighting this election for the great ignored”.
“Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight. They start our businesses, operate our factories, teach our children, clean our streets, grow our food, keep us safe. They work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law”, he will say.
“They’re good, decent people – they’re the people of Britain and they just want a reason to believe that anything is still possible in Britain.”
“This election is about giving them that reason, giving them that hope”.
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Labour will put the boot into Britains recovery
Labour will kill the recovery
Monday, April 5 2010
The Conservatives have launched a poster as part of a wider campaign highlighting how Labour’s job tax will kill the recovery.
“Labour have confirmed today that they are going ahead with a national insurance tax rise on jobs that Britain’s business leaders say will endanger jobs”, said George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor.
The Conservatives have also unveiled new research showing how National Insurance has become Labour’s favourite stealth tax:
- Total receipts from National Insurance have risen over five times faster than income tax receipts over the last decade.
- Average National Insurance Contributions (NICs) per family have risen over twelve times as much as average income tax receipts per family over the same period.
- In that time Gordon Brown cut the basic rate of income tax once (as part of the 10p tax con) but he increased National Insurance rates in three different ways – and that’s even before Labour’s new tax on jobs planned for 2011
“With Gordon Brown now finally forced to call the election, the choice is clear”, Osborne added.
“Labour’s jobs tax and debt will stamp out the green shoots and kill the recovery. Conservative plans to cut wasteful government spending and stop the jobs tax will get Britain working.”
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Alan Sugar thinks small business are moaners who live in Disney World – Appointed by Labour on April Fools Day UK
Sugar appointment criticised
Philip Hammond has criticised Labour’s announcement that Lord Alan Sugar will lead a new government task force designed to fight the corner of small businesses against the banks.
“Only Labour could announce on April Fool’s day that it had appointed the man who called credit-starved small businesses ‘moaners’ who lived in ‘Disney World’ to be the adjudicator on their applications for bank loans”, he said.
Lord Mandelson has selected Lord Sugar to sit on the task force which will set up the Small Business Credit Adjudicator. Lord Mandelson believes the people he has chosen “… understand the critical importance of new finance and credit flow to the growth of small, innovative companies”.
But Lord Sugar said last year: “The moaners are bust… they don’t need the bank, they need an insolvency practitioner”.
This comes on the same day that the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Retail Consortium and 23 business leaders attacked Labour’s planned tax on jobs.
“No wonder no-one believes Lord Mandelson’s claims to be the champion of small business when Labour would rather tax jobs and the recovery than cut government waste”, Hammond added.
Well this is news that small business can do without. Clearly Lord Alan Sugar has nothing in common with small business and is merely another puppet of Labour.
Jim Ferguson
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