Policy & Politics Blog

8 April 2011

Budget Fuel Tax Cut Already Wiped Out

I didn't expect to be saying 'I told you so' quite so soon... but less than two weeks after magician (and Chancellor) George Osborne 'found' £10bn of oil tax revenue in order to cut fuel duty, we're back where we started. This week the RAC reported that soaring oil prices already mean that 'motorists have seen very little benefit from the duty cut' announced in the Budget.

The Government must listen to its own rhetoric - just a few weeks ago Chris Huhne said he wanted to get us 'off the oil hook' but within days we get a Budget with a £10bn subsidy for motorists, and little in the way of measures to wean our transport system off oil.

It's not rocket science - people are already changing their travel habits due to high fuel prices and they need the Government to give them a helping hand.

Well over half of all car journeys are less than five miles long and 85 per cent of cars on commuting and business trips have just one occupant. There's huge potential for positive change, if the right incentives are put in place.

We need safer streets to encourage walking and cycling, improved public transport, more car sharing and planning reforms to preserve and enhance local services so we don't have to travel so far. We also need more action to switch remaining car journeys to greener cars that use less fuel.

Just a fraction of George's £10billion would have doubled the Government's new green transport fund (which funds local low carbon transport schemes) , reversed last year's cuts to bus subsidies and given Leeds a brand new electric trolley bus network.

At least this would have been a start on the journey towards a less oil dependent and lower carbon future.

Posted by Mike Childs | 08 Apr 2011 | Transport