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FUEL D-DAY: WE TAKE YOUR PROTESTS TO PM

Your protests being stacked up for delivery by reporter Martyn Brown

Thursday July 3,2008

By Macer Hall and Martyn Brown

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(19)

GORDON Brown was last night handed 100,000 reasons for slashing the punishing fuel duty that is threatening to paralyse Britain.

The Daily Express’s crusade for a substantial reduction in tax on petrol and diesel was taken right to the door of 10 Downing Street.

The petition signed by 100,000 of our loyal readers - both the paper and online - makes clear the fury of Middle Britain at Labour’s failure to ease the burden on millions of families.

And our crusade won backing yesterday from angry hauliers staging their own protest in nearby Parliament Square against rocketing fuel prices.

I am delighted the Daily Express has led this crusade

Tory MP and Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe

Our delegation to Downing Street and the Treasury was led by Tory MP and Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe.

Speaking on the steps of Number 10, she said: “I am delighted the Daily Express has led this crusade. I hope it is as successful as previous Daily Express crusades.” She added: “Gordon Brown has been over-taxing Britain for 10 years, first as Chancellor and now as Prime Minister.

“He is making it impossible for people on modest incomes to manage. It’s time he understood that the motor car is not a luxury but some people’s necessity.”

Joined by Daily Express chief political commentator Patrick O’Flynn, political editor Macer Hall and reporter Martyn Brown, the petition was formally handed to Mr Brown’s staff.

In line with Downing Street’s strict rules on the acceptance of petitions, a single representative bag containing hundreds of readers’ coupons was handed in to Number 10.

The rest of the coupons were delivered to a nearby civil service depot.

Last night, a Downing Street official said: “We will consider the Daily Express petition and respond in due course.”

Our crusade is calling for the 2p-a-litre petrol and diesel tax rise due to come into force this October to be scrapped.

And it is also demanding a cut in the current rate, recognised as among the highest in the world.

The average price for a litre of unleaded petrol yesterday was nearly 119p, according to the Daily Express’s Cost of Living Index. Diesel stood at 132p a litre. But around 50p of those prices is taken in fuel duty and a further 17p in VAT.

The Treasury’s tax grab has soared this year as crude oil prices have rocketed to over US$140 a barrel.

Independent experts have calculated that a £600million windfall to the Treasury as a result of surging oil prices could fund a 12p-a-litre cut in duty.

Mr Brown had attempted to gag the Daily Express’s crusade. His officials blocked our bid to lodge our petition online on the Number 10 website.

But our delivery yesterday ensured our readers’ anger cannot be silenced.

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The Daily Express crusade, and the huge number of readers that supported it, show that Gordon Brown cannot continue to ignore the suffering caused by fuel duty across the country.

“People are struggling to make ends meet and the extra bill week after week just to be able to drive to work is pushing people over the edge.”

Yesterday’s march on Number 10 continues the Daily Express’s great crusading tradition.

Two years ago, a massive petition against inheritance tax was handed to Number 10, which was widely credited with helping to force Chancellor Alistair Darling into a major cut in death duty.

Yesterday, haulage workers backed the Daily Express’s latest crusade as they gathered in London to raise the plight of their industry under the burden of soaring fuel prices.

Fran Harris, 41, who works for HH Transport & Warehousing in Bristol, said: “We want some help from this Government otherwise our industry will vanish as we know it.

“The company I work for has already had to lose three people – that is three families who are suffering the consequences.

Last night there were signs that ministers are becoming worried about growing public anger.

In the House of Commons, Treasury minister Angela Eagle claimed work was under way to ease the burden on motorists.

She told MPs: “I have seen some MPs to discuss some of the ideas they are coming up with and we are examining those ideas.”

But she also insisted there were “no easy solutions”.

REGARDING JACKLEMON COMMENTS

11.07.08, 10:07am

Not Gordon browns fault? Are you aware that 75% of what we pay for a litre of fuel goes to the "Brownies" as tax. If the Brownies cared anything at all about the people of this country they would cut the fuel duty and leave just the VAT. As it is they are getting paid VAT on the fuel duty which means that we are paying tax on tax.
This fuel rise is tanatamount to murder when one consideres the knock ons. Food, Heating going up to boot. Consider one elderly person minus food and heat. Add one harsh winter and we have death. Even HItler treated his own better than that.

• Posted by: Bonna • Report Comment

LEKKIE:

04.07.08, 11:06am

Do you really think that the fuel price increases have all been because of Brown putting prices up? WRONG. He may have put 2p on the duty this year but the rest of the price increases you have seen are because of the price of oil increasing, which Brown does not control. HE DOES NOT SET THE PRICE OF OIL. IT IS AN INTERNATIONALLY TRADED COMMODITY.

Why not, instead of taking the easy option and whinging about it, go and buy a bike? It's great exercise, perfect for journeys of about 5 miles or so and cheap- no tax on the fuel (well, apart from VAT on certain foodstuffs). Try it- I can do it, so can you!

• Posted by: jacklemmon • Report Comment

FUEL DUTY !!!

04.07.08, 12:22am

What planet do some of these people live on, jacklemmon.
I suppose its people like you that still think there is such thing as this mythical 'Democracy' that idiot Blair used to love so much. Now we have this absolute maniac Brown who has spent many years crippling this country, dipping into the pension funds until, oh dear, its all gone. Never mind, I'll just go on the Box and tell them that they all have to work until they are 95, and that they all need to pay more into their pensions.
We all know that petrol is expensive per barrel, but that does not give this idiot Brown the right to keep stealing more money does it. FACT, every 1p he puts on fuel costs a Haulier around £600 per year extra, that in turn is reflected in shop prices when goods are delivered to shops, it costs more, so YOU PAY LOTS MORE. Why are there so many brain dead fools out there still voting for these Labour crooks. Did you notice tonight how the MAJORITY of Labour MP's refused to accept this new bill to stop them RIPPING OFF THE TAXPAYER. The sooner we have a general election and see the back of this Labour bunch of morons the better. Don't ever expect to see another Labour govern ment, they will either have been deemed bankrupt, or whats left of this country will remember what a total hash they made of it. They are washed out brain dead moronic idiots, all of them.

• Posted by: lekkie • Report Comment

WARWICK:

03.07.08, 11:56pm

I am well aware of the duty and tax that is charged on fuel. Our fuel is among the most expensive in Europe, I do not deny that (it's not the most expensive though). I'm just saying that the recent price rises, the 20-odd pence extra per litre that we're paying for fuel now, is not down to Brown (VAT not withstanding).

• Posted by: jacklemmon • Report Comment

REGARDING JACKLEMMON COMMENTS

03.07.08, 8:05pm

Are you living on this planet? We are one of the most taxed countries in the WORLD!.So the amount of tax that is levied on a litre of fuel is a figment of imagination. Unbelievable- now I can see why there is some people out there that still vote labour. I am now lost for words.........

• Posted by: Warwick • Report Comment

BROWN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HIGH PRICES

03.07.08, 7:31pm

Oil is up to $144 today. This means that the price of petrol will increase.

Can't you see? Brown has hardly touched the duty- the reason you are paying more for your petrol is because the price of oil has increased massively, not because of Brown. He's got as much control over the price of oil as anyone else in the country ie not a lot. Brown scrapped the fuel duty escalator that the Tories used to increase petrol by 2-3p a litre every year in the 90s and ever since the fuel protests in 2000 he has been afraid to increse fuel duty.

You're all blaming the wrong person.

• Posted by: jacklemmon • Report Comment