Brown turns oil tap on, but no U turn on petrol tax yet

Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, is looking for ways to increase oil production in the North Sea, but has not yet announced the cancellation of impending fuel tax increases.

Citing worldwide problems in oil supply, Gordon Brown is making a welcome move to increase the production of UK owned oil from the North Sea. This will not resolve the short term problems that all of us are experiencing whenever we fill up our cars at the petrol station.

It will also not help those people who rely on central heating oil to heat their homes, at least not for a very long time.

It will also not appease the lorry drivers that have been demonstrating against the high fuel costs lately. Fuel costs that are damaging the haulage industry and sending our food costs soaring.

So whilst increasing UK oil output will be of benefit in the long term, there is actually one thing that Gordon Brown can do to help us all now – cancel the impending tax increase on petrol.

The government must be raking in untold millions in VAT and tax as the cost of petrol and diesel has rocketed at the pumps. 2p extra per litre, which is the increase in duty planned for October, is not going to make a huge difference to government finance, however it will add significant costs to hauliers and other high usage petrol and diesel users.

That 2p tax will also feed into higher inflation as it will help drive up the cost of food and other consumer items.

So come on Gordon Brown. Cancel that 2p rise in fuel duty. That is a way of helping us all now.

One Response

  1. Experiential learner 29th May 2008

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