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New Clause 4

Fuel duty (remote areas)

‘In the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 (c. 5) section 6 (excise duty on hydrocarbon oil) there is inserted after subsection (1A)—

“(1AA) The Treasury may, by order made by statutory instrument, specify lower rates of duty under subsection (1A) in respect of hydrocarbon oil products sold in remote areas.

(1AB) For the purposes of this section ‘remote areas’ shall be defined in regulations made by the Treasury by statutory instrument.

(1AC) Orders or regulations made under this section shall not come into force unless approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.”.’.— [Danny Alexander.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Danny Alexander (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (LD): I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Michael Lord): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 6— VAT and hydrocarbon oil duty offset—

‘In the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 (c. 5) section 6 (excise duty on hydrocarbon oil) there is inserted after subsection (1A)—

“(1AA) In every Budget Statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall provide his forecast for oil prices and set out anticipated yield from fuel duty and VAT on fuel for this price and for a range of prices up to 50 per cent. above his forecast.

(1AB) In his 2006 pre-budget report the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall bring forward a mechanism for—

(a) using additional revenue from VAT on fuel above forecast to offset fuel duty when the oil price rises above his forecast level, and

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(b) providing specific fuel duty reductions targeted at fuel sold in sparsely populated areas;

and the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall by order define ‘sparsely populated areas’ for the purposes of this section.

(1AC) Whenever international oil prices rise above the level
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estimated by the forecast made in accordance with subsection (1AA), indexed fuel duty increases shall be frozen until the international oil prices return to the forecast level.”.’.

Amendment No. 123, in clause 13, page 14, line 15, leave out Table A and insert—

CO2 Emissions figure	Rate
(1)	(2)	(3)		(4)		(5)
Exceeding	Not Exceeding	Reduced Rate		Standard Rate		Premium Rate
			Households with a postcode in a remote rural area		Households with a postcode in a remote rural area		Households with a postcode in a remote rural area
g/km	g/km	£	£	£	£	£	£
100	120	30	15	40	20	50	25
120	150	90	45	100	50	110	55
150	165	115	57.50	125	62.50	135	67.50
165	185	140	70	150	75	160	80
185	-	180	90	190	95	195	97.5

Amendment No. 129, page 14, line 26, leave out Table B and insert—

CO2 Emissions figure	Rate
(1)	(2)	(3)		(4)		(5)
Exceeding	Not Exceeding	Reduced Rate		Standard Rate		Premium Rate
			Households with a postcode in a remote rural area		Households with a postcode in a remote rural area		Households with a postcode in a remote rural area
g/km	g/km	£	£	£	£	£	£
100	120	30	15	40	20	50	25
120	150	90	45	100	50	110	55
150	165	115	57.50	125	62.50	135	67.50
165	185	140	70	150	75	160	80
185	225	180	90	190	95	195	97.50
225	-	200	200	210	210	215	215

Amendment No. 125, page 15, line 8, at end insert—

‘(3A) After paragraph 1B insert—

“1BB For the purposes of paragraph 1B above, ‘remote rural area’ shall be defined in regulations made by the Treasury by statutory instrument.”.’.

Danny Alexander: The purpose of the new clause is to enable the Treasury to specify lower rates of duty on fuel to apply in remote rural areas. Hon. Members will know that article 19 of the European Union’s energy products directive allows member states to apply for a derogation to allow lower duty rates in specified areas. In October 2004, the French Government, with the support of UK Ministers and Ministers of other member states in the Council of Ministers, did just that, following the example set by the Portuguese and the Greek Governments in previous years.

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