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Finance (No. 2) Bill

Perhaps they were overawed by the Financial Secretary. Roger King certainly welcomed our proposals today, and I would be delighted to forward the Financial Secretary a copy of the RHA’s press release. The proposal would result in the introduction of a mechanism so that high oil prices would trigger lower fuel duty—fuel duties and VAT make up about 60 per cent. of the total price of a litre of petrol or diesel. In that case, the Chancellor would provide by statutory instrument that where the price of crude oil rose above the published forecast price, additional revenue from VAT on fuel would be applied to offset some of the rise in duty. It will come as no surprise that the hon. Members who backed similar amendments last year represented rural and semi-rural constituencies, but it is not only those in rural constituencies in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of England who suffer from high petrol and diesel prices. No nation, no region and no part of the UK is exempt from the problem of rising fuel prices, because every product in every shop is carried on the road by a haulier at some point. There has been a lot of banter in the Chamber about some of the proposals. I do not intend to make a lengthy speech, because it would be unfair on those hon. Members who have stayed in the Chamber and because the arguments have been rehearsed on many occasions. I hope that the Financial Secretary begins to take on board the serious manner in which we are tackling the grave concerns of the road haulage industry and especially the serious problems in sparsely populated rural areas. In some rural areas in my constituency, there are no filling stations between major towns and the nearest city. As one moves into the countryside, more and more independent stations find that they simply cannot continue. I am unlikely to push new clause 6 to a vote. The parliamentary arithmetic would make that an unprofitable exercise. As I have done previously, I ask the Financial Secretary to take on board from the Road Haulage Association and the industry generally—the big companies and the small traders— the pain that has been suffered, the inflationary pressure building underneath because of high costs being driven up by haulage, and the problems of remote and rural Scotland and all sparsely populated rural areas in the UK. I ask him to make some positive noises in response to the debate so that we can look forward to a tempering of the high and spiking prices, which many of us experience in our constituencies.