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Fuel Duty (Rural Areas)

I could enter into a debate with the hon. Gentleman on that, but I want to respond to the specific issues that are pertinent to the debate, including the practical difficulties. A reduced duty rate in rural areas would require a derogation under the EU energy products directive, so a definition of a remote area would have to be submitted to the EU Commission, and we could not forecast the outcome of that with certainty. Even without that barrier, it remains unclear how remote rural areas could be defined satisfactorily.