Fuel Duty

Henry Smith Excerpts

Monday 12th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

I am disappointed by the Minister’s speech—I have heard it several times before. Whenever he addresses the House he uses the same argument: the previous Government got us into a mess. Today, my constituents are suffering from high petrol and diesel prices, which is why the motion, which I shall support, was tabled.

I have consistently supported the hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) over a period. Indeed, I opposed the Labour Government increasing fuel duties because I thought the timing was wrong.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Albert Owen]

I will in a moment, but given the time limit I do want to make some progress.

I want to raise three issues, the first of which is the impact of fuel duty on businesses, especially those in peripheral areas of the United Kingdom. The Government also chose to impose a VAT increase, despite the Prime Minister having told the country before the election that they had no intention of doing so. Every time constituents throughout the country put petrol or diesel in their cars they pay an extra 3p per litre because of the tax introduced by this Chancellor of the Exchequer.

[Albert Owen]

Scottish National party Members always use that line on fuel duty, and I am not going to waste my time on it—[Interruption.] If the hon. Gentleman had checked the record, he would know that I have been consistent on fuel duty. I have followed SNP Members through the Lobby on that. Previous Labour Chancellors froze the duty following pressure from people. That is on the record. We can play games about previous Governments, but the serious issue is the cost—

[Henry Smith]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Albert Owen]

No. I want to make progress. The serious problem is that our constituents are paying 15p per litre more for petrol under this Government than they paid under the previous Government. Government Members can use nonsense hypotheticals, and say, “It would be 10p more expensive under a Labour Government,” but the fuel escalator was introduced by the Major Government. We could use the same argument, and say, “Had we stuck to that, fuel would by so many pence more expensive.” The reality is that it is 15% more expensive today.