Schedule 5
Finance Bill
9:15 am
Peter Bone (Wellingborough, Conservative)
I rise to speak on the mixed signals that the Government are sending about biofuel, particularly bioethanol. As I understand it, the Government have taken a decision to end the discount for the use of biofuel on roads, yet the measure seems to encourage people to use it off roads. The Government are saying, “Let’s encourage biofuel as long as it isn’t being used on the roads, but on the roads, we’re going to restore the duty to the same level as petrol.”
Huge carbon savings could be made by using biofuel. The Government have not quite made up their mind whether biofuel is a good thing, because of its huge benefit in saving carbon, or whether they are against it, because of its sustainability and impact on food prices. They are sending terribly mixed messages, and we need some clarity about what they are saying. Is biofuel a good thing or a bad thing? Are they giving in to the petrol lobby, or are they as serious as our European colleagues in Sweden, who have made a big effort to get vehicles to switch to biofuel?