Tin Man In Heart Shock
OSBORNE’S BUDGET HELPS DRIVERS
Victory for everyone that claims it in the Autumn budget announced yesterday by Chancellor George Osborne. With the complete scrapping of the planned 3p-a-litre fuel duty increase planned for January 2013, The Sun claimed it was all down to them, Labour claimed it was them, Liberal Democrats also wanted a piece of the glory, the AA, the RAC…
Whoever it was it has saved the driver filling the average tank around £2 a time. It all helps, so maybe the petrol giants can now follow the supermarkets and lower their prices? (Not holding breath smiley face!)
Rent-a-Quote Edmund King from the AA welcomed the news: “This decision avoids a new year’s headache and a long hangover for all drivers and is very much welcomed by the AA. Big Ben’s chimes ringing in a nearly £2-a-tank hike in petrol and diesel prices would have back fired on the Government and economy.”
A smiling Chancellor, much in the mould of a snake about to strike (but that’s just my opinion) was like the cat who had got the cream as he stared that the cancelling of the rise as opposed to a postponement was to help families and businesses across the country. And he also announced that the next fuel duty rise wouldn’t be until next September. Whoopee-Do!
“The Treasury may have thought that a fuel duty increase in the winter, when petrol is usually cheaper, would have been easier. But, toasting the new year with Champagne at a lower duty rate than road fuel underlines successive governments’ failure to spot the difference between a luxury and a necessity,” continued AA President Mr King. “In 20 years, UK motoring has cut its fuel consumption by 20% (12.8 billion litres), but contributes 144% more (£15.81 billion) in fuel duty tax. In the last financial year, the Treasury collected its second highest-ever haul of fuel duty from UK drivers – a whopping £26.8 billion.
“That is two and a half times more than what is spent on UK roads (£9.8 billion), even before receipts from Vehicle Excise Duty, VAT, company car tax and new car tax are added.”
Basically that is a warning to Mr Osborne to get the taxation sorted out for cars because we are fed up with carrying the burden of taxation for everyone else.
On the up side, The Chancellor also announced that an extra £1 billion was being made available for roads and a Tube line extension.
Amongst the road schemes are a £378 million upgrade of a section of the A1 in north east England to make it the same standard as a motorway, improvements to the A30 in Cornwall, a new link between the A5 and the M1 in eastern England, a dualling of the A30 Temple to Higher Carblake in Cornwall, £150 million worth of improvements at the M25′s junction 30 at Thurrock in Essex starting in 2015, and £10 million on improvements at junction 12 of the M40 in the West Midlands, starting next year.
On top of this there was also an announcement that £270 million had been earmarked for national and local projects to remove bottlenecks, an additional £333 million for road maintenance, and a commitment to look at ways of financing road schemes – which sounds suspiciously like private toll roads to me!.
Richard Hebditch, campaigns director for Campaign for Better Transport, said: “The Government’s great plan was to use private finance to build roads. The reality is a damp squib, but other vital budgets are being cut to pay for damaging roads schemes. Maintaining our roads should always be the priority over new building. We’re pleased the Chancellor has heeded our call for better maintenance to do just this. The £330 million earmarked for this is a start but must be used to improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians too.”