[ posted by Boris, June 05, 2012 14:02 ]

When elected this government said that the war on motorists was over, haven't seen any signs of this being the truth. The cost of motoring (and everything else) is going up and up and up, money going in to governments bottomless coffers that they are finding endless news ways to spend. It seems that the time is approaching when government will take all of the money WE earn and make everyone live on benefits of one sort or another, under the cosh so to speak, be a good little citizen or your benefits will be reduced, be a politician and have endless benefits and perks!! The solution? Vote UKIP or Freedom Party.

[ posted by Al S, June 05, 2012 15:56 ]

Happy to say that my MP, Eilidh Whiteford, SNP, actually replied to my email and is a supporter.

[ posted by mark paling, June 07, 2012 19:28 ]

the price of fuel is my biggest expense after mortgage its getting to the point where its close to being uneconomical to run my car no car means i would be unable to get to work and unable to be a father to my son who lives with his mum miles away,i voted tory at last election but if they don't see sense on fuel i will be looking for the party that will

[ posted by Jim, June 08, 2012 10:40 ]

It is crippling Mark, it really is. Though you say "I voted tory at last election but if they don't see sense on fuel i will be looking for the party that will"

Whist I do admire what you are saying, perhaps you would have a little more luck if you tried searching for the gold at the end of the rainbow, the ark of the covenant, or the holy grail instead.

Fuel is too much of a cash cow for any party in government, you only need to look at their historical records to see that. You are absoultly correct that we need sensible fuel prices, the thing is I cant help but feel that by looking from political party to party under current contitutional rules, you are looking for help in the wrong place.

[ posted by Gareth Smith, June 08, 2012 14:23 ]

Had an e-mail reply from Johnathan Djanogly (MP for Huntingdonshire) with the usual Tory (coalition?) party line and "high oil prices" so have sent him a response back with the tanker images (and credit to Fairfuel UK).

I urge anyone else in the Huntingdonshire constituency to e-mail him on this given we have one of the UK's remaining haulage firms based in the area (head office is actually in Bedfordshire but have a major depot in Huntingdonshire) as well as referencing the CEBR report.

It was quite clear from the response that he hadn't heard of the report and didn't seem willing to look past the party line. I really do hope that these 40 MPs are raising awareness with their colleagues so hopefully MPs and constituents can "meet in the middle" as it were as we're effectively working from both sides of the problem.

Another part of the party line is that the coalition government have actually *saved* people 10p/l on the cost of fuel. Are Fairfuel UK able to look into this to see whether it's actually true compared to predicted Labour policies (given those policies *may* have changed between the general election and now anyway!)

[ posted by Tad Davison, June 11, 2012 10:20 ]

The local Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert, did reply to my e-mail, but gave no assurances that he would support a reduction in fuel duty. That doesn't surprise me. At the 2010 general election hustings, he said he would actually like fuel prices to be higher!

The worst-hit are those who are least able to afford it, including the disabled. For them, they have no alternative but to use their cars, and any fuel hike, is exactly the same as taxing an able-bodied person merely for walking.

Yet that argument cut no ice with Mr. Huppert!

So are the Lib Dems really so concerned about ordinary people, as they like us to think?

It is not sufficient it seems, for them to condemn this nation to economic and social oblivion by being Euro-fanatics, they also cheat the most disadvantaged.

Tad Davison

Cambridge

[ posted by David Bottomley, June 11, 2012 10:39 ]

Got a good positive responce from my MP, Philip Davies and pleased to see his name on the published list supporting Fairfuel UK.

[ posted by Roy P, June 11, 2012 10:40 ]

My MP has replied twice to my request (The Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP) but I am sorry to say he is not in touch with the public's views, he as usual follows the party line and high oil prices, I ask anyone in the Surrey area to e-mail his office or the House of Commons explaining, We the public want the fuel Duty reduced, NOT INCREASED.

[ posted by Kathy Everitt, June 11, 2012 14:39 ]

I have e-mailed my MP (Karen Bradley - Staffordshire Moorlands) twice on this issue, as has my partner who runs a one man band driving school, but to no avail. She intimates that the findings of the CEBR are inaccurate and that we should be grateful to the Government that we are actually paying 10p less than we would have been if they had not already acted in the public's favour! And, of course, she just had to drop in about the legacy of the deficit left behind by the previous Government. These people will never properly understand the awful pressure of just everyday living, if you can call it that, whilst their life style is being funded to the hilt by the likes of us. If they really gave a damn they would take the lead and say that, from now on, we'll pay for our own lavish meals, washed down with expensive wines, in top hotels, instead of taking badly needed monies from the public coffers. They'd pay for their own rents for the large properties they take up residence in, etc. Not to mention the ones that 'make mistakes' by claiming for a variety of things they are not even entitled to. What do they actually spend their wages on? No wonder they fail to understand how the general public are suffering because they don't live in the real world, where jobs are being lost and hours are being cut! The terrible cost of fuel puts a strain on everything and these fools want to increase it further? Please e-mail your MP before it is too late - don't sit back and think others will do it.

[ posted by Adam Mills, June 11, 2012 15:26 ]

Kerry McCarthy MP - Bristol - Labour replied that she had already debated this problem as shadow ttreasury minister but to no avail.
She said that labours intention was to return VAT to 17.5% which as well as reducing fuel by 3p/l it would help all in the longrun.

[ posted by Graham, June 11, 2012 17:18 ]

I think we are wasting our time trying to convince certain MPs about fuel prices.

Twice I have emailed my MP and twice now I have received the standard reply of, 'Yes I understand the impact on families etc.' Then it goes on about what the government has already done, about the huge inherited deficit and how fuel prices will be 10p lower as of Apr 2012 (letter dated 28th May 2012). The letter ends with that he appreciates these (significant) reductions have not ended the pressure and finally states he fully supports the Chancellor's measures.

He is obviously going to tow the party line and not be swayed from it's cause. Guess who will not get support from me any more. Would be interested to hear if others in Dartford received the same letter.

[ posted by Munish Mistry, June 11, 2012 19:09 ]

Lets not be unrealistic and expect massive reductions but to have fuel prices at an average European Union price would be good.

Taking data off the net set fuel taxes so we are always at the European Average and that way Petrol =£1.30 Diesel =£1.23 we would at least be on an equally competitive level as our neighbours and thats including Scandinavian Countries with the highest tax rates.

Country Unleaded 95 Diesel Unleaded 95 Diesel
Luxembourg € 1.47 € 1.28 £1.19 £1.03
Slovenia € 1.53 € 1.34 £1.23 £1.08
Belgium € 1.61 € 1.38 £1.30 £1.11
Netherlands € 1.72 € 1.38 £1.39 £1.11
Portugal € 1.60 € 1.40 £1.29 £1.13
Austria € 1.52 € 1.43 £1.23 £1.15
France € 1.65 € 1.43 £1.33 £1.15
Poland € 1.47 € 1.43 £1.19 £1.15
Czech Rep € 1.48 € 1.44 £1.19 £1.16
Hungary € 1.53 € 1.47 £1.23 £1.19
Slovakia € 1.58 € 1.48 £1.27 £1.19
Spain € 1.38 € 1.50 £1.11 £1.21
Ireland € 1.64 € 1.53 £1.32 £1.23
Latvia € 1.48 € 1.53 £1.19 £1.23
Denmark € 1.77 € 1.54 £1.43 £1.24
Germany € 1.73 € 1.54 £1.40 £1.24
Switzerland € 1.50 € 1.56 £1.21 £1.26
Sweden € 1.68 € 1.59 £1.36 £1.28
Italy € 1.83 € 1.74 £1.48 £1.40
UK € 1.70 € 1.79 £1.37 £1.44
Norway € 1.86 € 2.00 £1.50 £1.61

Average € 1.61 € 1.53 £1.30 £ 1.23

[ posted by Adrian Lloyd, June 11, 2012 20:12 ]

Politicians mostly appear to live in cloud cuckoo land and are totally out of touch with the electorate-they need a damn big bomb under them to make them realise that without the electorate they would be toiling their arse's off like the majority of us to make ends meet.I have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of our 'leaders' belong to a lieing,conniving breed who think that to become a politician entitles them to ride roughshod over the electorate and to pamper themselves with mountains of goodies denied to the rest of us-bring on the revolution;and I just wish 100% of this country's electorate would make the effort to make things change by bombarding MP's continuously until they see sense

[ posted by Norman Utton, June 11, 2012 22:49 ]

Like a great many Fair Fuel campaigners I have contacted my MP - Jeremy Wright, Member for Kenilworth and Southam, Warwickshire. Like most other MP’s he has trotted out the Party line, effectively saying that the Government have already NOT put in place earlier rises that were planned, so the Government have done their bit. Jeremy Wright, like all MP’s is not affected by the price of fuel, they simply claim the cost of “business mileage” back from the Government. In fairness to him, and other MP’s I am not opposed to this, because before I retired I had a company car, for which I paid very high taxes, but I was able to claim back the cost of fuel. What really gets to me is the fact that Government say they have to reduce our vast National debt – absolutely true, but at the same time they have find ways to stimulate our stagnating economy. They have recognised that they need to do this by creating a climate of growth in business to reduce the huge tax burden on both small and large businesses. There has been talk about reducing VAT, or NI contributions, but what makes me so angry is that a reduction in fuel duty would be so much better for all businesses, because it would reduce the tax burden on business, and allow them to employ more people, thus taking many off Government benefit payments, hence reduce the amount being paid out to the unemployed by Government, AND at the time put money back into the pockets of pensioners, the disabled, those living in country areas, where there is no public transport, and the working public, which in turn would lead to more spending on the high street. This would then create more tax revenue for the Government to use to pay off our National debt. Unfortunately most of our MP’s are too thick, or stupid to see this, or maybe cynically most MP’s are too scared to step away from the Party line, because if they do then all these lucrative extra paid committee jobs would be denied to them. Heaven forbid that they should do their job, which is to represent public opinion, because they could well loose out financially.

[ posted by John Lockett, June 12, 2012 13:02 ]

High taxation on fuel penalises the public generally and hauliers specifically as well as stagnating growth in the economy. Reducing NI contributions impacts negatively upon the Health Service, or so we are to believe. Transferring the tax burden to higher VAT is fairer as this taxes spending, in which there is some degree of choice, and not earning as in the case of Income Tax.

[ posted by John Marchington, June 12, 2012 17:18 ]

I fully support the campaign, having in the last few years becoming bankrupt and losing everything:- now having to very carefully budget. Plus .. (I know it's the wrong comparison) ...my Son's paying a lot less than 20 pence / Litre in Bahrain. But we all know Britain's image....'rip off'.
Yes, I've signed the petition:- emailed my MP via the site:- and am in the process of sending my opposition ... (based on Quentin's suggested note) .... by snail mail in today's post.
My point:-
Who reads these long diatribes of pages and pages of correspondence??
Which PR 'person' drafted the note? It is full of filling and flannel..... It doesn't do to be 'nice'....(note beginning) ..
."I understand that the national fuel.... " 282 words??? Why use a few words when you can use 282?. My posted snail mailed letter to my MP is now less than 100 (probably still too many) and all the important bullet points are there. That's another thing. Presentation. The letter could have been drafted - not in an aggressive way - but K.I.S.S. You've heard of Keep It Simple, Sir..?
Please buck your ideas up if you are serious. I'm on your side and you've got to win !!
Thank you for your time.

[ posted by Michael Russell, June 13, 2012 15:58 ]

The response from my MP to my latest request was absolute
ZERO. (Alan Duncan)

So I will definatelty NOT be voting for ANY TORY MP.

PLEASE NOTE mr DUNCAN it would appear you do not care about your
constituantes, if you do not bother to reply!!

[ posted by mark thomson, June 20, 2012 0:46 ]

the papers are to scared to print the REAL fuel scandle (ie how the people of the land keep getting robbed) on the front page of there paper (WHERE IT COUNTS ) and call out the theives (ie the goveroment ) but there agian i surppose fuels not dear when you pay your self large salary of yet more of our money that you steal off us in yer so called of taxes :-0