Budget Response from the FairFuelUK Campaign

Following his week’s budget announcements, according to FairFuel:

• UK still has the highest taxed drivers in the world.  Argghhhh.
• The claim that the Treasury has lost billions due to the 8 years of a duty freeze is a lie. FairFuelUK will publish the reasons that reveal the fiscal truth about the impact of this freeze later this week.
• Still no independent pump price monitoring body to check opportunistic profiteering in the fuel supply chain.
• Still no sign of a long-term roads transport strategy. The new money announced will not touch the sides of the millions of dangerous potholes or the costly congestion across the UK.
• Still no idea about how £35bn of duty and VAT will be replaced when Fuel Duty collapses to new technology vehicles and the way they are fueled.
• Good news on fighting plastics pollution, but no incentives to adopt low cost clean air solutions proven to lower vehicle emissions that are here and available now.
• Still pursuing the £100bn vanity HS2 project at the expense of the rest of the UK’s decaying third world roads infrastructure.

Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign, said: “Sadly and true to form, despite the continuing and welcome hold in fuel duty, this Government still does not get it, when it comes to our motoring nation. No necessary cut in duty to stimulate the economy, utter silence on those greedy unchecked oil companies continuing to fleece hard pressed motorists at will, and no incentives to move to practical low emissions solutions to improve our air quality. And if Brexit collapses is there the spectre of crippling tax hikes at the pumps to come. A hollow Budget, from and out of touch Chancellor who’s clueless to what to do with UK roads, public transport and our freedom of mobility.  We are not here to declare war on the Treasury, but to many of us it feels like the Treasury, along with the Department for Environment, are waging war on drivers, bikers and anyone who uses a van or lorry. The easiest of targets to fill the coffers at the Treasury.

More Background to this release

Mrs. May’s early announcement for continuing the freeze was down to rocketing oil prices. It’s not being held, for economic proven common sense to boost the economy and help hard-pressed drivers. No! It’s been frozen again because OPEC and those faceless gluttonous oil speculators are getting even richer day by day, all by cartel styled stage-managing of the markets. And as a result, the Chancellor enjoys a cash bonanza in increased VAT revenue too.

Had the fuel duty escalator continued as planned from 2011 onwards, this levy today would be 83.33 pence per litre rather than 57.95 pence per litre, 43.8% higher. We estimate that this would mean pump prices around £1.70 plus. What would that cost of filling up have done to our economy, small businesses and more importantly, those real people who are ‘just about managing’?

Why are UK drivers so punished by our Government that claims to believe in low taxes to stimulate the economy?  There’s no sign of this long-standing party philosophy in this Budget!

AND why is it, the whole of the developed world puts lower fuel duty onto diesel and therefore is always cheaper than petrol? Those administrations, unlike here in the UK, recognise the commercial heartbeat of the economy is haulage and distribution.

Our Treasury instead, sees all drivers as pure cash cows.  Here in Blighty, diesel tax is 60%, with France 58.5%, Germany 51.8% and little old Luxembourg at just 44.1%. Our 57.95p per litre in fuel duty level towers over Australia’s 21p and the US’s at 10.4p per litre.  It really is disgusting.

98% of our economy is delivered by truck. The Haulage industry operates on wafer thin margins. Yet the Chancellor’s perennial regressive levy policies could cost jobs, push up inflation, reduce consumer spending and slow GDP growth. All based on his high tax policies.

It is essential he looks at road pricing strategies for the future. The lack of a road pricing policy in any shape and form shows how clueless our politicians are.  Always responding too late and invariable getting it wrong.

The Fuel Duty cash cow bandwagon is coming to a rapid end, so it’s more than critical that £35bn of annual duty and VAT are protected now, not when it’s too late as technology supersedes the internal combustion engine for good. Working with FairFuelUK to produce a long-term viable road funding plan would be hell of a start and hugely popular.

Instead of being influenced by his tax payer funded SPADs, that wallow in ignorant doctrine, he must listen to the advice of the real people, the electorate, who pay 60% to 70% tax to the Exchequer every time they fill up. Oh, we must not forget that immoral double taxation of the VAT on the duty they pay too. How can that be right and fair?

FairFuelUK conducted the biggest survey in the recent history of transport.

71,000 responded in September and October. And what they told FairFuelUK, is a wake-up call for this fragile Government.

• 90% regard their vehicle as critical to their daily lives with 67% saying they have categorically no choice but to use it every day.
• Those on low incomes, less than £20,000, say they have no alternative, but to spend up to a quarter of their hard-earned cash on petrol and diesel. The emphasis here is ‘no alternative!’
• 87% in the survey said, fuel duty should not be raised to help fund the extra £20bn promised by the government for the NHS!!!! Thankfully Mrs. May did listen, albeit for party political popularity. In contrast, the Treasury’s disingenuous and doctrinally motivated leak to the media a few months back, added more worrying salt to the already suppurative wounds of drivers.

Ways to raise cash for the NHS

FairFuelUK asked the 66,000 ‘anti-hike in duty’ to our Autumn survey respondents, what ways they suggest the government should indeed raise the promised extra NHS cash.

• 75% said, make Amazon, Facebook, Google, Starbucks, Cadburys & similar corps pay the appropriate tax in the UK. 6 out of 10 want NHS bureaucracy reduced, better procurement of supplies and HS2 to be scrapped. Followed closely by ditching overseas aid to rich countries like China and India.
• Common sense, and hugely popular, vote winning ways to help fund our National Health treasure. Despite this good judgment from the electorate, we heard from credible sources, the Chancellor remained hell bent on hitting the easiest of targets hard, drivers. We are very grateful for Mrs. May’s intervention to stop his foolish economic plans that would have been political suicide for the Conservative Party
• Our survey also revealed that Mr. Hammond is regarded as the most out-of-touch politician in the country, just above their detestation for the London Mayor.  Sadly, this Budget will not improve his standing amongst 37m drivers.

What do you think?  Annoyed?  Have your say below, and even better please help FairFuelUK to make the Government see common sense by taking part in the Largest ever Survey of Road User Opinion