In 2000 the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown ended the fuel escalator, the process by which fuel prices increased by above the rate of inflation. The 2 pence per litre (7 pence per gallon) increase in fuel duty implemented yesterday and the already announced increases of a further 2 pence per litre in April 1008 and 1.84 pence per litre in April 2009 show that the fuel escalator is back in all but name.
Hauliers' leaders last night raised the prospect of a return to the blockades of 2000 as lorry drivers grew angry at the current increase and the promised future rises. They accused the Prime Minister of reintroducing by stealth the controversial 'fuel duty escalator' of automatic annual increases. Roger King, Chief Executive of the Road Haulage Association said that "There's real anger... Although no one's yet manning the barricades, if it continues like this some may be tempted. These rises are unjustified...It means British businesses are paying 26p a litre more for their fuel than lorries filling up on the Continent...However the Government dresses it up, Gordon Brown has put Britain back on to the fuel duty escalator which led to the last round of fuel protests."
The AA and the RHA agreed that this 2 pence per litre rise takes the fuel duty element of the price of a litre of diesel in the UK to 50.35p compared with an average for the rest of Europe of 22.7p a litre.
Remember how the Government folded in 2000 as the fuel protests grew, remember the panic in Government Ministers' faces as they felt the first anti-Government protests. Do you think Gordon will enjoy facing down lots of big angry truckers?
Now all we need is some movement on John Redwood's idea for publicising Government percentage take from petrol and we could be getting somewhere.
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