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Finance Bill

No doubt the hon. Gentleman’s hon. Friends and his constituents will read the Official Report tomorrow and see what he said earlier. The decision that I announced yesterday was not based on the Chancellor’s whim, as the hon. Member for Dundee, East suggested. Following sustained pressure from G8 Finance Ministers, OPEC is committed to increasing quotas by up to 1 million barrels a day by September. In the short term, however, uncertainty and the risk of price volatility remain high, especially so with oil trading last week at above $59 a barrel. By the time of the pre-Budget report, it is likely that there will be more clarity about OPEC and non-OPEC supply, levels of global demand for oil and the level of crude and product stocks ahead of the peak winter demand. I hope that hon. Members on both sides of the House accept that it is in no one’s interests to have fuel prices higher than expected or higher than they need to be. The best way to deal with high international prices is not by imposing complex mechanisms that respond to what may prove to be temporary fluctuations in prices, but through the efforts that we are making to support producing and consuming nations to promote greater market transparency and to improve the investment climate in the international oil sector, which will help to bring about more stable oil prices at levels that are more conducive to sustainable economic growth.