Today, the government has listened. In his Autumn Statement, George Osborne scrapped the fuel tax bombshell that was scheduled for January 2012.
As regular Coffee House readers will know, more than 100 MPs supported my cross-party
campaign for cheaper petrol. At its height, it saw an e-petition attract more than 124,000 names — triggering a full MPs’ debate in Parliament.
It has been a very long campaign, working with many organisations, from FairFuelUK and the RAC, to the independent forecourt industry, The Spectator and the Sun, to thousands of members of the public who wrote to me in support. Over several months, I have asked questions in Parliament, spoken at Prime Minister’s Question Time, held debates and public meetings, and even helped to push a taxi-cab up Whitehall, to 10 Downing Street, as a symbolic protest at astronomical fuel prices.
Fundamentally, we need lower taxes for lower earners: rip-off petrol prices have been literally adding to our dole queues, and causing a poverty trap, as people cannot afford to drive to work.
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