MACNEIL ANGER AS TREASURY RULE OUT FUEL DUTY REBATE

MACNEIL ANGER AS TREASURY RULE OUT FUEL DUTY REBATE

MACNEIL ANGER AS TREASURY RULE OUT FUEL DUTY REBATE

Calls for a rebate on fuel duty in the Highlands and Islands have been ruled out by the Treasury in a decision described as “madness” by SNP Westminster Transport spokesperson Angus MacNeil MP.
In a letter to the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Treasury Minister Angela Eagle said the UK Government was “sensitive to the impact of high prices on those in rural areas” but for a series of administrative reasons had ruled the out idea.
Commenting on the decision, Mr MacNeil, who raised the issue at a cross-party meeting with Treasury Ministers in June, said:
”Treasury Ministers seem to live on a different planet – they certainly don’t live in the Highland’s and Islands, and if they did would realise the madness of their case.
”On one hand Angela Eagle acknowledges that fuel prices in the Highland’s and Islands are much higher, but then misses the point and completely misses the opportunity to do something about it.
”The Treasury argue that different duty rates in different areas could create incentives for motorists to drive further to fill up on cheaper fuel. Do they seriously believe that people on the mainland are going to take a ferry to the Hebrides to fill up the family car?
”The Minister also argues that it would be too difficult to draw up administrative boundaries in which a scheme could operate. Well thank goodness Angela Eagle is not a Foreign Office Minister, because if she looked at a map she would see that the islands of Scotland provide ideal and obvious boundaries in which a scheme could operate.

”Scotland has yet again been let down by the London Treasury, and the sooner the Scottish Parliament has full powers to act in Scotland’s interests the better.”