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Finance (No. 2) Bill

Let me correct the hon. Gentleman. France has not yet done this. The proposal is due to be introduced in 2007. In fact, what the French are proposing—it would be interesting to find out whether the Liberals will propose it as well—is a real increase in fuel duties that could be offset in certain regions at that point. The policy that we have established on fuel duty must take account of all the relevant economic, social and environmental factors, but, of course, it is important that fuel prices are no higher than they need to be. On prices, it is important that we are clear about what is driving the level and volatility of our fuel prices. Road fuel duty is lower in real terms now, at 47.1p per litre, than in 1999, when it was 47.21p per litre. That is the equivalent of a fall in the price of road fuel of 7p per litre. So the high and volatile prices are a problem not of fuel duty, but of the international market and international prices. The best way to deal with international prices is not by imposing the complex mechanisms that are proposed in new clauses 4 or 6, but by the efforts that we are making to support the efforts of producing countries and consuming countries to increase the stability of the oil market and to improve its functioning.