Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 15 December 2005.
It is not just 4x4s that guzzle gas. Other models also do so, but I understand my hon. Friend's point. If we are going to have a consensus—there are good arguments for having one—there are some difficult issues that we have to address. For example, with rising world fuel prices and with some people taking to the streets and putting up blockades, we need to argue the case for achieving the right balance of environmental taxation to reflect the environmental impact of road transport, rather than trying to get a few populist headlines by talking about cutting fuel duty, given the chance to do so. The opportunity exists for all parties to address these issues, including differential rates of taxation, in a mature and sensible way. I look forward to that debate.