Fuel Prices

Andrew Percy Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

Is it not also true that in rural northern England the problem is compounded by the fact that our average salaries are so much lower?

[Andrew Bingham]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point with brevity, and I appreciate that.

We hear about deprivation in different parts of society. There is a thing called rural deprivation. Yes, I am lucky to represent and live in a beautiful area, but we pay for that through higher fuel costs and our increased reliance on fuel. Lots of other rural communities up and down the country suffer the same misfortune.

We are lucky that our Government are in power, because we are 10p a litre better off than we would be if the Labour party were still in government. However, we pay more in rural areas. The difference goes to the oil companies, not necessarily the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I believe that the Government are doing everything they can to keep fuel prices down, but it is time that the oil companies started to play their part and did what they could. We need to make motoring affordable. I welcome the call by the Office of Fair Trading for information on the UK petrol and diesel market; I hope that it will shed enough light to inspire a full investigation. We need open and transparent oil trading.