Opposition Day — Reduce Taxation on Fuel for Motor Vehicles Paid for by a Bank Levy — 16 Mar 2011 at 15:51

The majority of MPs voted against lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles.

The text of the rejected motion was:

• That this House
• recognises that rising world oil, food and commodity prices are increasing the cost of living and adding to the squeeze on families on low and middle incomes across Britain;
• believes this has been compounded by the Government’s decision to increase VAT to 20 per cent., which will cost a family with children an annual average of £450, has helped to push up the consumer prices index annual inflation to 4 per cent. and, according to the House of Commons Library, is adding £1.35 to the cost of filling up a vehicle with a 50 litre tank;
• notes that the AA announced last week that the cost of unleaded petrol has now reached an average of £6 a gallon and that the fuel duty stabiliser promised in the 2010 Conservative Party manifesto has not yet been announced or implemented;
• further notes that the previous administration regularly postponed planned fuel duty rises when world oil prices were increasing sharply, as they are now; and
• demands that the Government takes immediate steps to reverse January’s VAT rise on road fuels, using the extra £800 million from the bank levy and securing the appropriate EU derogation, in order to provide relief to hard-pressed motorists and, at the time of the Budget, looks again at the annual duty rise due in April.

Debate in Parliament | Source |