The UK government has done something so stupid that even I, a serial criticiser of New Labour, am surprised.

They announced today that if there were to be a petrol shortage they would ration petrol. That is not to say there will be a shortage - the protesters have said that they will not seek to cause disruption as happened five years ago. Unfortunately, the people of this great nation rightly think to themselves “If I’m going to be unable to buy petrol shortly, I’d better buy some now.”

This is only sensible, forward thinking. It’s just a shame that the government could not have foreseen this and stayed schtum.

Petrol duty has, as the IOD said today, removed the market for petrol that would keep prices at a consistently low level in England. A short drive from an area dominated by one town to another area will show that prices vary according to the local competition and not according to any nationwide pricing strategy. The government’s ideological taxation of petrol is an unfair tax on people’s need to travel - taxation should be about raising revenue and not about incentivising people to have a conscience about the environment.

The issue of a flat tax has been raised again recently and petrol duty should be included in the list of taxes scrapped as part of this change (along with VAT and alcohol duties). I will support any legal protest to reduce or remove this highly unfair tax.

I implore you to visit the following site: Less Tax On Fuel


Posted In: Political