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Sustainable Economy > Published by Eleanor Besley, March 17th 2011 at 9:52 am

Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost

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Fuel duty and VAT increases always make for great political bun fighting in the week before a budget, but yesterday’s opposition day debate failed to excite. The focus continues, understandably, to fall on the short-term issues around the cost of fuel  but fails to take a bigger picture perspective and look long-term at oil dependency, fuel poverty and the evident lack of choice available to the British public.

Empty-fuel-tankThe debate on the ‘Fuel crisis and the cost of living’ offered an opportunity for Labour to make up for the clever but much criticised proposal from Ed Balls this weekend which called on government to drop the planned rise in VAT on fuel.

However, Eagle vs. Greening yesterday afternoon was all round disappointing. “Notably scratchy,” said Bercow, but the real concern is that the debate, unsurprisingly, placed focus on the cost of fuel rather than letting fuel poverty and social inequality take centre stage.

The Chancellor, absent from the proceedings, is under mounting political and public pressure to announce some relief for drivers in the Budget.

He is expected to scrap the 1p per litre above inflation rise in fuel duty planned by the previous Labour government but is increasingly less likely to bring in a mechanism to protect motorists from future rises in world oil prices – a fair fuel stabiliser.

But are we missing the bigger picture behind the immediate crisis? Peak Oil is or has arrived, climate change is happening, Middle Eastern unrest is current and the UK’s dependency on oil is certain – but instead of looking for a way to wean ourselves off the oil drip before we’re forced to go cold turkey, we’re having a political row about the price of petrol tomorrow; perhaps with good reason – we don’t really have much choice about how we travel so our society is reliant on free-flowing oil.

The concern that really ought to be raised is that the British public has been priced out of making a choice.

As the price of motoring has fallen and public transport has become more expensive, the squeezed middle has lost the opportunity to make a choice about how they travel. By removing transport choice and forcing a direct dependency on oil, governments have directly penalised the middle and lower income families and we’re only just beginning to realise how dramatic the impact will be.

Being able to access and afford oil has become a necessity, so the price hikes will be felt by all.

It’s not just oil dependency we need to manage. The current transport system fails to tackle congestion, compounds on increasingly poor health, is detrimental to the state of the environment and excludes those people who do not have access to a car.

Of course there are some journeys which need to be made by car and which will continue to require private motorised transport, at least in the foreseeable future. But 23 per cent of car journeys are less than two miles long and 56 per cent less than five miles and government should be focusing on making it possible for the majority of those journeys to be  made by other modes such as walking, cycling and public transport.

And there are a whole host of journeys we make for example to the out of town supermarket or to the post office in the next town – which could be removed from oil dependency if we looked more holistically at policy decisions.

Land use planning, investment from health, and a more coherent understanding of school travel are all policy areas which could significantly reduce the number of journeys we currently need to make by car.

  • http://twitter.com/simonbarrow/status/48322301816602624 Simon Barrow

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/quinonostante/status/48322471614615552 Dawn Willis

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/eleanorbesley/status/48322950948073473 eleanorbesley

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus http://bit.ly/h0EYWZ @sustrans @PhilNTaylor

  • http://twitter.com/richardhebditch/status/48323201629028352 richardhebditch

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/brokenofbritain/status/48323717364854784 brokenofbritain

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/iconicimagery/status/48323721118760962 iconicimagery

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/realsimonarnold/status/48323908146966528 realsimonarnold

    RT @IconicImagery: RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes …

  • http://twitter.com/chris_and_murph/status/48324120450039808 chris and murph

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/crimsoncrip/status/48324283222597633 crimsoncrip

    RT @BrokenOfBritain: RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz write …

  • Spir.Sotiropoulou

    RT @BrokenOfBritain: RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz write …

  • http://twitter.com/spsot/status/48324653793542144 spsot

    RT @BrokenOfBritain: RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz write …

  • http://twitter.com/di_sinistra/status/48327360935759872 di sinistra

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/psychoticlynx/status/48329296095358976 psychoticlynx

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/dubious1977/status/48329581672931328 dubious1977

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/danielvockins/status/48345888208326656 danielvockins

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost http://bit.ly/h0EYWZ

  • http://twitter.com/johnty85/status/48355891547881472 johnty85

    RT @leftfootfwd: Fuel poverty and social inequality should be the focus – not fuel cost: http://bit.ly/emrmLz writes @EleanorBesley

  • http://twitter.com/helen_barnard/status/48420079695708161 helen barnard

    Fuel prices and #inequality http://is.gd/hGOdy2 See @jrf_uk for effects of transport costs on minimum income needed http://is.gd/cxby7i

  • http://twitter.com/jrf_uk/status/48426130281213952 jrf uk

    RT @Helen_Barnard: Fuel prices and #inequality http://is.gd/hGOdy2 See @jrf_uk for effects of transport costs on minimum income needed h …

  • http://twitter.com/jrfnancy/status/48426244164952065 jrfnancy

    RT @Helen_Barnard: Fuel prices and #inequality http://is.gd/hGOdy2 See @jrf_uk for effects of transport costs on minimum income needed h …

  • http://twitter.com/pellegrino5/status/48431196274827264 pellegrino5

    RT @Helen_Barnard: Fuel prices and #inequality http://is.gd/hGOdy2 See @jrf_uk for effects of transport costs on minimum income needed h …

  • Mr. Sensible

    Agreed with that Eleanor; the simple fact is that all this about ‘Greenest Government Ever’ has simply failed to take off, and the Department For Transport must bear the responsibility.

    However, in the shortterm, the government should scrap the VAT increase, not just on fuel, but full stop; it is having an impact on the wider cost of living as well.

    And it is not cuttin the deficit; it is paying for tax cuts elsewhere.

  • Eleanor Besley

    I do not entirely agree Mr Sensible. Rather than scrapping VAT increases what we should be doing is working towards a more efficient VAT system. OECD report this week states that:

    Spending cuts will curb government consumption, investment and household income growth over the 2011-12 period, but will bring long-term gain. The OECD says that pushing through key reforms will address fiscal sustainability concerns and help bring about a long-term rebalancing of the UK economy.

    “By taking hard, though necessary, decisions now, the UK is ensuring that it can continue to provide the British people with effective government services in the future,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said during the survey’s release in London. “To counter some of the negative impact, monetary policy should remain expansionary to support the recovery, even if headline inflation is currently above target.”

    Fiscal consolidation should be adjusted to better support growth. Economic recovery and job creation would both benefit from smaller-than-planned cuts in public investment. Such reforms should be financed through improvements to the efficiency of Value Added Tax, including ending exemptions and bringing lowered rates up.

    The UK VAT system is one of the least efficient in the OECD area, with less than 60% of potential revenues actually collected. Targeted support should be introduced to compensate poorer households for VAT increases. Combining these measures would support the recovery, enhance efficiency and protect the weakest without harming consolidation.

  • http://twitter.com/eleanorbesley/status/50574626983657472 Eleanor Besley

    @CarolineLucas not to mention the Clarksonesque decisions http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/03/fuel-crisis-and-the-cost-of-living-debate/

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/04/as-fuel-duty-cut-is-wiped-out-calls-grow-to-wean-nation-off-oil/ As fuel duty cut is wiped out, calls grow to wean nation off oil | Left Foot Forward

    [...] and on the other hand, insisting that steps be taken towards getting the UK off the oil hook by maintaining planned fuel duty increases and ring-fencing them for investment in sustainable alternatives to car [...]