Liberal Democrats and the SNP yesterday both ramped up the pressure on the Treasury to give the north a fairer deal on fuel prices, while fearing the worst from next week’s pre-election Budget.
Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander and his party colleague, Euro-MP George Lyon, urged the Edinburgh and London governments to acknowledge the campaign for lower fuel duty for remote and rural communities.
A pricing scheme that protects a number of remote areas of Europe has been in force for some years, but the UK Government has consistently refused the same deal for the north of Scotland.
Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Rob Gibson has challenged the Lib Dems to back an SNP amendment as part of next week’s post-Budget debate, calling for the introduction of a “fuel duty regulator” to freeze fuel duty increases if world oil prices rise above levels forecast by the chancellor – and a parallel reduction in duty to match extra revenue from VAT from higher pump prices.
Mr Alexander, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: “It seems likely the Budget will mean a further increase in fuel duty in April, which would be madness at a time when people are struggling because of the recession and fuel prices have risen by as much as 20p in the last few months.
“The Treasury is already getting a big windfall from that through VAT. The idea that they should then impose a further punitive duty rise at this time is wrong and would hit people in the Highlands especially hard because of the lack of alternatives in terms of public transport.”
Mr Gibson said: “The cost of petrol, thanks to tax increases by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, is the highest in Europe.
“The SNP's proposal of a regulator would stabilise the rises and bring some sanity back to prices at the forecourt.”
He called on Highland Council to buy fuel in bulk, suggesting it should be stored at Lairg or Lochinver and sold to local petrol stations.
Highland transport committee chairman John Laing, an independent councillor, dismissed the idea, however.
“We buy significant marine diesel supplies for the fishing industry which is held at ports that we manage,” he said. “We’ve looked at buying in fuel many times, but it would be a nightmare.
“There are so many regulations around the storage of petrol that the cost would far outweigh any benefits that would accrue from it and the profit margin in petrol is so low that it’s really not worthwhile.”