Posts Tagged ‘Fuel’
Scottish Conservatives launch campaign for fairer fuel prices
Speaking at the launch of a fair fuel price campaign, Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative Leader says:
“Labour and the SNP are both responsible for the high fuel prices. The Labour Government at Westminster has taxed so much that we have record fuel prices when oil is half the price it was two years ago.
“The SNP Government in Scotland has increased rates for local garage owners by up to 50% and is forcing many of them out of business. The new rates valuation brought in under the SNP penalises independent rural petrol stations because they are charged the same rates as supermarkets, but can’t get the same deals on fuel prices from wholesalers.
“The SNP may not be able to do anything at Westminster because they are irrelevant, but they are in Government in Scotland so can’t pass the buck on this issue.
“Conservatives want to ensure fairer fuel prices and increase the number of petrol stations eligible for rates relief to bring pump prices down.”
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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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Empty promises and an empty Budget from an empty Labour Government UK
David Cameron responds to Labour’s empty Budget
Wednesday, March 24 2010
David Cameron has responded in the House of Commons to the Chancellor’s presentation of the last Budget before the general election.
He said Labour “have made a complete mess of the British economy and they are totally failing to clean it up”.
Cameron set out the big argument in British politics: Labour say “don’t do anything before the election, let’s just sit tight and keep our fingers crossed”, and the Conservatives say “we need real action to get our economy moving – and urgently”.
Highlighting new policies that copied existing Conservative proposals, such as the stamp duty cut and new university places, he said the “only new ideas in British politics are coming from this side of the House” and that “the only thing Labour bring are debt, waste and taxes”.
The figures that stands out above any other, he said, was that Labour have “doubled the national debt, and they’re going to double it again”.
Outlining the Government’s failure Cameron criticised “all those schemes that they launched with great fanfare” for failing to help enough people. He also drew comparisons on the state of the economy when Labour came to power to the present – including the huge increase in the debt and deficit, and a falling down the global league tables in terms of competitiveness, tax and regulation.
We need a credible plan to deal with Britain’s record debts”, he said, criticising the Chancellor’s repeated hope to halve the deficit by 2014 as giving us a deficit “almost as big as when Denis Healey went to the IMF in the 1970s”.
Moving on to the delay in dealing with the deficit, he said “the risk to recovery is not in dealing with the deficit now, it’s in not dealing with the deficit now”. Cameron said that “every family knows that when your debts mount up, you need to start paying them off or things will only get worse”, and that it is time for the Government to learn the same lessons”.
“The Prime Minister and Chancellor faced a choice – between bold action in an election year or playing politics. Once again, they chose politics.”
Cameron also emphasised the need “to show the world that we are back open for business”, saying that because Labour “flunked the difficult decisions on spending, they are raising tax after tax after tax – all after the election”. “These are the ticking tax bombshells timed to go off the day after the election and that will destroy our recovery.”
He said that the greatest risk to Britain’s economic recovery was another Labour government. “No one has yet thought of a question to which the answer is five more years of this Prime Minister”, he said.
“We need a credible plan to cut the deficit. We need an unleashing of enterprise across the nation. We need a plan to boost employment through radical welfare and school reform. If ever there was a time when this country needed a radical change of direction it is now.”
He concluded that Britain needs a Conservative government “to clean up the mess made by this Labour Government”.
“Britain needs new energy, leadership and values to get this country moving again. That’s the argument we’ll take to the country the moment the Prime Minister has been forced by the law of the land to call the election he has avoided for so long.”
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Fuel prices set to rocket – Highland business at serious risk Scotland UK
Business and hard pressed people across the Highlands face even greater hardship due to fuel prices that are set to soar. Some estimates suggest that the more rural parts of scotland will face prices of around £1.30 per litre.
This is totally unacceptable and as if we wern’t facing enough problems this latest bombshell may see more and more people struggling to cope. How will penshioners manage to heat their homes ? The fact that the vast majority of the cost is tax that goes straight into the Labour Governments pockets is scandalous when they can see the pressure that people are already under thanks to Labours recession.
And what of the LibDem MP Danny Alexander. What will he do ? Not much. Not much a minority party MP like him can do anyway.
This general election will give the people of the Highlands an opportunity to elect an MP who will be able to deliver.
If the country is fortunate enough to elect a Conservative Government then I as the MP for this region will be in a far stronger position to bring real help and support to the people of the Highlands of Scotland instead of the empty weak words of the Liberals who can only whine and wring their hands in helplessness.
Jim Ferguson
Petrol Price Woe For Drivers As Costs Soar
4:28pm UK, Tuesday March 16, 2010
James Jordan, Sky News Online
Petrol prices could reach an eye-watering 120p per litre later this year, the AA is warning.
The organisation is claiming that unleaded fuel could even top the price, equivalent to £5.41 a gallon, and Alistair Darling is being urged to delay the introduction of a planned 3p increase in petrol duty due to come in on April 1.
AA president Edmund King said: “The UK is barely out of recession, yet petrol prices threaten to rise to record prices seen during the boom of 2008 – shortly before the collapse into recession.
“If families, drivers on fixed incomes and those on low pay were unable to cope with record prices then, they are even less likely now.”
AA research found an average family with two cars is paying £52 a month more to fill up now than a year ago.
Motorists are being legally mugged at the forecourt by petrol companies.
Lindsay Hoyle, Labour MP on the Commons business select committee
The average petrol price in the UK is 115.9p for a litre of unleaded and 116.6p for a litre of diesel.
Even if the 3p increase is withdrawn, the price paid by drivers could soon hit 120p a litre – £5.41 a gallon – according to the organisation.
This would overtake the previous high of 119.7p of July 2008.
The AA said the price increases were caused by the rise in the price of wholesale gasoline since the end of January.
Lindsay Hoyle, the senior Labour MP on the Commons business select committee, said it was “a complete disgrace”.
He told the Daily Telegraph: “Yes, crude oil has gone up this year, but nothing like the rise in petrol prices. Motorists are being legally mugged at the forecourt by petrol companies.”
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