Clause 10
Finance Bill
2:15 pm
Stewart Hosie (Spokesperson (Economy; Home Affairs; Treasury; Women); Dundee East, Scottish National Party)
The Financial Secretary is right about the French model; he is probably also right that it would not be mirrored exactly here. Does he agree that when we debated this issue in the past two years, it was with urgency because petrol prices were high and the rises were sudden? That is perhaps less of an issue this year. Will he indicate that he will consider the matter in the longer term, calmly and outside the debate, to work out how we can protect remote, rural areas, whose inhabitants pay much higher prices? We must particularly recognise the possibility of similar episodes in the future, when the price may once again rise to a disproportionately high level.