Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Debate between Angela Eagle and Claire Perry

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

No. I have given way a few times, and I am going to get on with my remarks.

It is absolutely clear that increased fuel duty costs are eating further and further into already stretched household budgets, making the squeeze on living standards even worse. Businesses are suffering from problems caused by inflating commodity costs, tighter margins and restricted access to credit from the banks. Many are anxious about how they will get by in the next few years, and the continuing rise in the price of fuel is adding to that worry.

[Claire Perry]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

I will get on with my remarks and give way to the hon. Lady shortly.

The cost of oil has been rising on world markets as a result of underlying increases in demand from Asia and uncertainty because of the unrest in the middle east. Just a week ago, petrol prices hit a new high at the pumps. The average price for unleaded fuel is, a week later, still £1.32 a litre. That means that the cost of fuel has risen 7p a litre since the beginning of the year. The AA pointed out that the £6 gallon has arrived for the first time, and that prices for diesel have soared even higher, currently averaging £1.38 a litre.

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Angela Eagle and Claire Perry

Monday 11th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

The hon. Lady must recognise that the budget deficits being suffered in all the more advanced economies result directly from the need to rescue the world financial system by underpinning it, the effect of automatic stabilisers and the loss of revenue caused by the recession that followed the credit crunch. I thank her for giving me the chance once more to put that on the record.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

I will be happy to give way when I have finished dealing with the point made by the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt). I am pleased that she gave me the chance to put on the record again the plain fact that Budget deficits throughout the developed world were caused by the costs of the recession and the need to underpin our banking systems, rather than by profligacy in public spending. The problem was caused by a gigantic global market failure, not by the activities of Governments.

[Claire Perry]

It is a pleasure to welcome the hon. Lady to her new role, as she is one of the more economically literate and articulate of the shadow Front-Bench team. I am therefore surprised that she continues to bring out the hoary chestnut that somehow this deficit was entirely a result of the collapse in the banking system and was nothing to do with the previous Government’s spending more than they raised in taxes since 2001.

[Ms Eagle]

The hon. Lady has also to recall and acknowledge that a lot of the investment spending since 2001 went on infrastructure, which will stand our country in good stead as we look to how we can rebuild our prosperity and continue to earn our way in what will be an increasingly competitive world.