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Fuel Duty (Rural Areas)

It is an enormous pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once again, Sir Nicholas. I congratulate the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) on securing this debate and on speaking with such passion and eloquence on a matter that is dear to his heart and which he has pursued over a number of years. Several hon. Members have made it clear that there is significant concern in remote areas that fuel there is much more expensive than in most of the country. During this useful and informative debate, we have heard a number of explanations for why that is so, and concerns have been expressed about a lack of competition, principally in the supply chain. The hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) made a point about the lack of customers for remote petrol stations and their need to deal with fixed costs with fewer customers. The lower density of population in remote areas means that petrol stations are some distance apart and might not necessarily experience some of the competitive pressures that would exist in urban areas, although a number of hon. Members said that that was not really the fault of individual petrol stations, as they were just placed in a difficult position. One argument dismissed by the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne)—a number of hon. Members have expressed the same view today and in the past—is that higher petrol and fuel prices are essentially caused by the inherently more expensive transport costs in remote areas. Hon. Members argued strongly against that point. A number of hon. Members have stressed that fuel costs are particularly important in rural areas because public transport is not available—and not practical in many cases—and it is necessary to travel further and longer distances to reach amenities and facilities. Consequently, car travel is much more of a necessity than a luxury in such areas, yet it is more expensive to travel by car. The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), among others, made the point that such areas are often poor, so higher fuel costs have a disproportionate effect on those living in them. At the risk of upsetting the blood pressure of the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland, I shall cite some of the arguments that could be made against his suggestions, although many are weak and have rightly been pilloried during the debate. The argument that people will travel longer distances to fill up their car is particularly absurd in respect of islands, and even in certain mainland areas, so we can safely dismiss it. Any environmental arguments have been rightly dealt with. In remote areas, there is no choice regarding public transport, although higher fuel duty is often used as a means of persuading people to get off the roads and to use public transport. That is not a reasonable case in such circumstances, so the environmental argument is not particularly strong. I shall touch on an argument regarding price variations throughout the country, although I will tread carefully in this area because if it is expressed in a particular way, it can cause concern. Clearly, fuel is more expensive in remote areas, but one could look at housing costs, which also vary throughout the country, as an example of something that is a necessity and not a luxury. Some areas are much more expensive than others. One counter-argument—