Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living
Debate between Pamela Nash and Charlie Elphicke(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Charlie Elphicke
I gently encourage the hon. Lady to be cautious when making remarks about rich people. The other day her right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition talked about how his house is worth millions and millions, so we should be careful before we start trading such ludicrous insults. This is a serious debate; we have people in our constituencies living in deprivation, and all she can do is trade political barbs. I encourage her to consider how we can create more jobs and money, and how we can grow the private sector, so that it includes real jobs and real money that will take this country forward and grow our economy. The priority has to be to ensure that this country gets back into the fast lane of economic growth in the international arena. We have been slipping down the global competitiveness league over the past 10 years, and we need to ensure that this country goes back to the head of the economic river.
Pamela Nash
Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that rapidly rising fuel prices are doing exactly the opposite of what he says his Government are trying to achieve, with economic growth and the number of jobs throughout the country decreasing?
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.