Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Debate between Charlie Elphicke and Tom Blenkinsop

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Charlie Elphicke]

I cannot control the weather; God controls that. Nor can I control world oil prices; they are controlled by the global markets. Would that we could just magic away the fact that global oil prices have risen, but we cannot, and global oil prices have been rising and creating the problem felt deeply by many of our constituents. The situation has not been helped by the past decade’s 12 rises in fuel duty, which saw it go up from 36p to 57p. That is a massive, 20p increase, and on top of that there is VAT. But, to come to this House and say, “Well, why don’t we just chop the VAT by 2.5%,” knowing that is illegal and unlawful, and that it would take six years to secure such a derogation, is a shameless and craven exercise in opportunism.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

The Government are proposing enterprise action zones, so if I were to set up a petrol station in one of them, would I be able to sell petrol exempt of all taxes? That would present a problem for the hon. Gentleman’s argument that, under EU law, we are not able to roll back VAT.

[Charlie Elphicke]

I do not think the Chancellor would introduce any such enterprise zone on that basis, and nor should he; that would be a ridiculous thing to do.

Just as ridiculous is the fact that the previous Government did so little about smuggling across the border. We see it daily in Dover, where local hauliers complain to me bitterly about the people who fill up in Luxembourg but not in the United Kingdom. They bring goods in, pick up another load, leave and then fill up again in Luxembourg. They contribute nothing to duty, road funds or vehicle excise duty in this country; they come on a free pass, and the previous Government did nothing about it.