New Clause 4 — Fuel duty (remote areas)

Part of Finance (No. 2) Bill [Ways and Means] – in the House of Commons at 7:45 pm on 4 July 2006.

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Photo of Danny Alexander Danny Alexander Opposition Whip (Commons), Shadow Spokesperson (Work and Pensions) 7:45, 4 July 2006

I am grateful to the Minister for that.

The purpose of the amendment is to propose a relieving measure for rural areas to take account of the fact that petrol prices are much higher, that car use is much more of a necessity, rather than a luxury, and that the distances driven tend to be much longer, so people are making longer essential journeys and spending much more of their income on fuel at higher prices, which is giving a windfall to the Treasury through the VAT system. This is a relieving measure to try to address some of the consequences of that, to which I want briefly to return.