Fuel Prices

Debate between Andrew Bingham and Rob Wilson

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bingham]

Absolutely. Unfortunately, rural residents like me have been beaten into submission and pay high fuel prices.

Furthermore, cars are more vital to people living in rural areas than to those living in urban areas. Many Members will not know the small village of Edale in my constituency, although the walkers and ramblers among them will. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) set off from Edale on his charity walk of the Pennine way earlier this year.

[Mr Rob Wilson]

Is my hon. Friend as disappointed as I am about the contribution of the hon. Member for East Lothian (Fiona O’Donnell)? She complained about the Minister being late, yet few of her colleagues have bothered to turn up for what she described as a very important debate.

[Andrew Bingham]

I completely agree. A couple of days ago, I was in the Chamber for the Opposition day debate about universal credit. The Opposition made great play of the fact that there were more Members on their Benches than ours, so let us turn it back on them: many Government Members are here because we care about the motorist and the cost of fuel.

I return to the people in the rural areas of High Peak. The residents of Edale face a 14-mile round trip to a post office. They have to go 10 miles for a doctor or dentist. All those journeys have to be made using their own transport. In rural areas, a car is a necessity, not a luxury. If we add all those journeys together over a year, the extra fuel costs can amount to as much as £400 to do the 2,000 miles that people in urban areas do not have to do. Those rural residents travel further and pay higher prices at the pumps.