Higher fuel prices a good thing says Benn
A CABINET minister was slammed yesterday after appearing to welcome rocketing fuel prices as an incentive to go green.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the high prices – which are crippling families – were encouraging people to take fewer road journeys.[>
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He also defended Government plans to increase road tax for older polluting vehicles.[>
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Mr Benn said soaring oil prices were “a reason not to put off tackling climate change but a reason for getting on and doing it’’. He added: “When one looks at the price of petrol and diesel, that is acting as an incentive to everyone to try and reduce use of fuel and reduce emissions at the same time.”[>
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Tory shadow Treasury minister Justine Greening last night said: “Hilary Benn seems completely out of touch with the cost-of-living pressures families across Britain are facing.[>
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“His comments also show that Gordon Brown does not have a grip on his ministers.[>
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“Only two weeks ago, facing a potential backbench rebellion, Treasury ministers were clearly indicating looking at a back-down on road tax hikes at the Pre-Budget Report in the autumn.[>
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“Today, Hilary Benn is saying the complete opposite. The Cabinet seems to be in complete disarray”[>
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Pressed on BBC1’s Politics Show to say if he was backing high fuel costs, Mr Benn said: “No. I’m simply saying that the price of petrol and diesel currently reflects the global price because there is a huge amount of demand.[>
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“We’re definitely seeing people thinking more carefully about the journeys that they make.” Mr Benn also defended controversial proposals to raise vehicle excise duty on cars bought as long ago as 2001.[>
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The Government faces a major Labour revolt on the grounds that the move will hit poor families.[>
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Mr Benn said: “The fact is, if we’re going to tackle climate change, there are some hard choices that we need to make and we want to encourage all of us to choose less polluting vehicles.”[>
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He said as people decided which new or second-hand car to own, the move would help them “to think about the emission levels, because there will now be an even bigger incentive to pick the lower-emitting vehicles’’.[>
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He admitted it would affect costs but said: “This is about making a change.’’[>
