Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

I am rather sorry that I gave way so early in my remarks to that kind of comment. I do not recognise the right hon. Gentleman’s caricature of our policies for motorists. Perhaps he has been reading too much of the Daily Express. [Interruption.] Well, I am a motorist as well. He should realise that motorists are not confined to the Conservative Benches.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

rose—

[Ms Eagle]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but after that I should like to get some more remarks in.

[Robert Halfon]

I find the Labour motion astonishing, because over the past few years the hon. Lady’s party crucified Harlow’s motorists by putting up fuel duty by 6% a year and increasing it more than 12 times—and it was going to introduce another tax.

[Ms Eagle]

I will come to the details of the motion later. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will do us the honour of staying in the Chamber and listening to that.

Taxes such as VAT are rising, and the Chancellor’s huge cuts in benefits and services are only just starting to bite. The Government are doing all this while the world economy is still very fragile after the international banking crisis. Global commodity prices are soaring, and these price increases are hitting people and businesses in Britain hard.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robert Halfon]

Will the Minister give way?

[Justine Greening]

I shall make a bit more progress, because I want to talk about the Labour party’s so-called fuel duty proposals, which are of course VAT proposals.

We are increasing child tax credits above the rate of inflation, giving lower-earning families an extra £210 over the next two years. Of course, poorer families will still receive more in child credits than they received under the previous Government, and, as I said, lower earners will be better off as a result of this Government’s changes to the personal allowance.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robert Halfon]

Is my hon. Friend aware that the previous Government planned six future fuel price increases, even though they knew the state of the economy?

[Justine Greening]

Absolutely. They left many tax bombshells, but perhaps that pre-planned tax increase was the tax road mine. There was a pre-planned additional per pence increase on fuel and a pre-planned year-on-year RPI increase—the so-called escalator. Ironically and utterly bizarrely, we are today debating a Labour motion that goes against the policy introduced by the previous Labour Government.