It is fair to say the
Conservative Government has presided over the most anti-motorist polices of
recent times. So here is FairFuelUK's manifesto of what motorists, van drivers and truckers want from
Liz Truss's tenancy at Number 10:
*AXE 2030 BAN ON FOSSIL FUEL NEW CAR SALES The government should
immediately remove the threat of the 2030 ban. Instead, incentivise the move to
clean fuels by motivating industry and entrepreneurs to develop technologies
that will not impact adversely on the economy, drivers, or businesses. Allow the market to dictate what clean fuel technology is best and affordable
for all drivers not through costly, divisive and ineffective mandate.
*CUT FUEL DUTY PROPERLY A 25p cut is appropriate. Lower fuel taxes
boost GDP, jobs, wages, company investment, consumer spending, lowering
inflation and business costs. Decades of economic incompetence from successive Governments
has kept UK drivers the highest taxed in the world, being used as cash cows for
the Treasury.
*INTRODUCE PUMPWATCH Government is still allowing the fuel supply chain
to ruthlessly exploit UK’s drivers completely unchecked. The Treasury’s coffers
are bulging at the seams with extra VAT. An independent watchdog for fuel
prices PumpWatch – a - is way overdue. It's morally repugnant that this is not
up and running by now.
*END THE WAR ON MOTORISTS by consulting with drivers themselves. For too
long the green lobby has held too much sway on Whitehall policy making.
Decisions have been made with little consideration for the economic viability
of our towns and cities or why millions of ordinary folk need vehicles in their
everyday and business lives.
*SCRAP SMART MOTORWAYS: Most drivers will rejoice that she pledged on
Wednesday to rethink hazardous Smart Motorways and bring back the sanctuary of
the hard shoulder. You are right to do this. No matter how many statistics are thrown at us to say
Smart M-ways are safer, common sense says that when a 40-ton truck is bearing
down on a broken down car, the only place to be safe is on the hard shoulder,
not stuck on the slow lane. This is borne out by the Smart Motorways Kill Campaign which reports that
motorways with hard shoulders have approximately 124 incidents each day of
delay and congestion. But on motorways without a hard shoulder the number of incidents rises to 1757
– 14 times more.
*RAISE MOTORWAY SPEED LIMIT Britain has the second lowest maximum speed
in Europe at just 113kmh – far off our neighbours in France, for example, where
top speed is 130kmh. Speed limits make sense. But they should be sensible. Modern vehicle stopping distances are much shorter than in years gone by, so a
top speed of 80mph on dry, near empty roads with high visibility is safe. There is already proof, from research with Heavy Goods Vehicles that raising
the speed limit improves productivity. One mile an hour increase in the speed
limit would save 650,000 man hours a year.
*SCRAP ULTRA-LOW EMISSION ZONES These expensive, cash- grabbing
ideological schemes strangle businesses, the haulage industry, and our freedom
of transport choice. They hit the poor and small businesses hardest. Put in
place under the guise of saving the planet, little proof has been shown that
they are cost effective.
*TEAR DOWN LTNs During lockdown, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods were
introduced as part of ‘temporary’ measures to create more space for walking and
cycling to allow people to travel safely during the pandemic. Covid has now been controlled yet LTNs still block our inner-city roads. They
cause division and commercial driver rage. LTNs were created through funding
from the Department of Transport, so all UK’s tax payers have been fleeced to
make a few streets devoid of the internal combustion engine.
*CREATE AN INDEPENDENT ROAD USER CONSULTATIVE GROUP AND A
MINISTER FOR DRIVERS
Please support our popular fight for fairer fuel taxation, whatever type of fuelled vehicle you drive.
For a fuel pricing watchdog, called PumpWatch.
And to scrap the 2030 Ban on the sales of new diesel and petrol vehicles.
Since Jan 2011 if the planned Fuel Price Escalator had been in place, today, pump prices would now be between 70p to £1.20p per litre even higher.
FairFuelUK through objective campaigning and lobbying, has put £165bn back into the economy through supporting more consumer spending and increased business investment.
Howard Cox, FairFuelUK’s Founder
APPG Chair, Craig
Mackinlay says: “The only thing that’s protecting the Government from
electoral harm on this matter is the seeming Westminster consensus and
lack of courage to stand up to the climate fanatics and say: enough!
Sooner or later the public will rebel against this madness. Better to have
the rational debate now before we fully embark on a failing and expensive experiment.”
Sir John Redwood MP said: “There is a lot
of common sense in the APPG Fair Fuel Report. Greener transport needs to work
for the people it wishes to attract as users. You cannot get to work or run the
children to school on a government target. Government needs to explain how
these changes are going to be better, popular and affordable.”
Julian Knight MP said “This policy was wrong
headed from the start, dreamt up in the kitchen diners of Notting hill, with no
understanding of real people’s daily lives. It’s clear that the switch to
electric will cause more environmental damage than running clean diesel. What’s
more who is to say electric won’t be superseded soon making this whole costly
charade a waste of time and money.”