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Mr. Woodward: When my hon. Friend was considering the problems that have been induced in rural areas, did he take note of the comments of members of the National Farmers Union? They calculated that tens of millions of pounds in road costs would be added to the farming business and, in many cases, would push an already depressed industry over the edge.
Mr. Hayes: My hon. Friend is right to request amplification of a point that I made at the beginning of my speech: it is not just the haulage industry, but the whole countryside, that feels under attack from the Government. This latest episode is merely another instalment in the story of the abuse of our rural heritage, our countryside and our rural economy that has been going on since 1997. I do not deny that there were problems before that, but they have been exacerbated and intensified under the Labour Government.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): Will the hon. Gentleman tell us who introduced the fuel escalator?
Mr. Hayes: Repetition has its place in politics, but it is not necessarily a place that I should want to occupy with the same alacrity as the hon. Gentleman.
My second point relates to the impact of the measure on small businesses. I have mentioned some of the larger companies in my constituency, including Fowler Welch, which I also mentioned last week. That company has taken the option of taking over a small continental haulage firm in order to run some of its fleet from the continent. However, that opportunity is not available to small hauliers. We are talking about small local companies moving local goods domestically. They cannot occupy different ground; they are obliged to continue doing what they do now. Their work is typically with small producers. Small producers make disproportionate use of small community-based family haulage firms, which are especially affected by the measure. As some hon. Members have pointed out, it is true that some hauliers will be forced to flag out and to relocate on the continent. However, many do not have that option because of where they are based and the size and nature of their business. The measure is a disproportionate attack on small business.
My third point relates to cars. We must be clear that, in many rural communities, the car is a necessity. It is a fact of life for many people; it is not possible for them to have any quality of life without access to a car. The problem with this fuel tax is that it is regressive. It affects poor and rich alike and has an especially damaging effect on the poor, the elderly and the disabled. It will affect the people who will suffer most from being restricted to their small village or hamlet. Indeed, in my constituency, where the population is sparse, some people do not even live in a village or a hamlet; some live in an extremely isolated spot somewhere in the middle of the fens, and, without access to a car, they will have no quality of life.
The measure will affect not only economic opportunities, but social and cultural opportunities. We should not ignore those. It is all very well for the Government to look back to a halcyon age when no one travelled more than five miles to do anything, but I assure them that, nowadays, the vast majority of people would not want to live that type of life. If that is the halcyon age to which the Government aim to return us, they will have a rude awakening from most British people when they put it to the test.
Mr. Leslie:
For the record, in the distinguished parliamentary career before the hon. Gentleman, will he tell us now whether he will ever again vote for an increase in road fuel duty?
Mr. Hayes:
The hon. Gentleman pays me great tribute when he refers to my distinguished parliamentary career--it will look very good in Hansard. I certainly do not want to dispute the point. I hope that my career will be increasingly distinguished, but, for the record, I want to ensure that the fact that I received such a plaudit from a Labour Member is amplified.
As for the hon. Gentleman's question, the answer is simple. One must judge the matter on the basis of the facts that are presented at the time. The truth is that Governments have to take decisions based on the prevailing circumstances. My judgment is that the fuel escalator has done its job and that we do not need to increase fuel duty. We certainly do not need to increase diesel prices by 11.6 per cent. at present. We have heard from the Conservative spokesmen--who certainly speak on this subject with far more authority than I do--that they do not believe that the escalator should continue. In future Budgets under a Conservative Government, when we are re-elected in three years' time, we may well need to consider the possibility of increases in petrol duty in the light of the prevailing circumstances. That is the honest answer, and the hon. Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie) would expect nothing less from me. However, I do not think that we should consider the escalator--or anything like it--because we feel that it has gone far enough; it has done its job and it has come to the end of the road.
Obviously, the Government do not accept that; they do not believe that it is important to maintain low petrol prices for poor people, rural communities or the haulage industry. That is a frank difference of opinion, which we have begun to explore during the past few weeks. However, the Government would do well to be honest with the British people about that difference of opinion. We do not want more soft words or spins in The Daily Telegraph, when the Government tell us that they are looking at the matter again. We know very well that they are not looking at it again. We do not want to be told one thing in the media and another from the Dispatch Box. We want an honest and open debate on the matter.
From what we have heard tonight, it seems to me that Conservative Members acknowledge the pain and suffering that are being inflicted on rural, and other, communities and the difficulties facing the haulage industry, but that most Labour Members do not. Perhaps they do, but they do not care. I prefer to think that they do not understand, rather than that they do not care.
7.15 pm
Mr. McNulty:
In relation to honesty, does the hon. Gentleman accept that, in the much-vaunted notion that £8.50 in every £10 spent on fuel is tax, £7.70 of that £8.50 was being paid before 1 May 1997? We are actually talking about 80p for every £10 spent on fuel. Is the answer yes or no?
Mr. Hayes:
In response to an earlier intervention, I tried to make the point that it is cumulative--I hope that the hon. Gentleman will comprehend that. The latest increase comes on top of those that have been made before. I do not want to stray into speaking doggerel like the hon. Member for Brent, North (Mr. Gardiner), but this is the straw that broke the camel's back. I cannot bring into my speech Iago, Caesar, Brutus and Davy Jones's locker as he did, because I do not share his skills in lyricism.
Mr. Brady:
May I assist my hon. Friend by adding that the Government are fiddling while Rome burns?
Mr. Hayes:
Far be it from me to try to match the rhetoric of my hon. Friend, but the point needs to be made that the measure comes on top of previous increases. We can debate all night whether those increases were right or wrong. In a brave speech, the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) said honestly that he disagreed with those previous increases. Conservative Members took the contrary view that the increases were right, because of the price of petrol and the competitive situation of our industry at that time. However, we are tonight debating not history, but what is happening today. The hauliers and those who have to pay extra for their petrol will not be impressed to hear Labour Members going on about what happened 10 years ago, rather than debating, honestly and openly, this increase, this Budget, this pain and this suffering.
Mr. Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire):
It is interesting to hear Labour Members complaining about the position of the previous Government. We have suffered three Budgets in two years and the haulage industry has suffered three extremely large increases--[Hon. Members: "Speak to the Chair."] I apologise, Mr. Butterfill. The matter is causing a great deal of difficulty, especially to small haulage businesses in our constituencies.
Mr. Hayes:
As ever, my hon. Friend speaks with great alacrity on these matters--[Hon. Members: "Lucidity."]--Perhaps I was thinking of lucidity.
Mr. Hayes:
Indeed, brevity as well. Having said that, my hon. Friend the Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. McLoughlin) is correct to point out that the Government have not only got it wrong this time, but got it wrong repeatedly. The hon. Member for North Tayside (Mr. Swinney) said that people were now seeing through the Government. He made a good speech, but on that point I disagree with him: it is not that people are now seeing through the Government; they have already seen through the Government. They have had two years to see through the Government.
Mr. Woodward:
There is always a danger of Government Members wanting to talk about history,
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