Business leaders call for cut in fuel duty

8:22am Friday 16th May 2008

THE North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) wants the Government to abandon plans to raise fuel duty by 2p in October after a haulier firm announced it was paying £2m more for fuel than this time last year.

Figures released by the British Chambers of Commerce show show that, from April 1 to today, the Government has had a windfall of £505m in tax because of the rising price of oil.

The windfall is the same as the amount expected to be raised by the proposed 2p rise.

The figures take into account petrol and diesel sales, the exchange rate between the pound and the dollar, the price of Brent Crude oil and North Sea oil production.

Ross Smith, NECC head of policy, said: "We support the British Chamber of Commerce in that the 2p fuel duty rise proposed for October should not just be postponed, it should be abandoned all together.

"In fact, NECC thinks the Government should go even further and consider cutting duty because we already pay more tax on fuel than most countries in the world, let alone Europe."

The call was backed by former NECC president and Northumberland haulier Alan Ferguson, executive chairman of Fergusons Transport, of Blyth.

He said: "No government should dare to slap another rise on petrol duty when petrol and diesel are going up almost daily.

"A year ago, my fleet of 110 trucks cost £4.5m to fuel - now it's £6.5m and rising."