BBC News | PLAID CYMRU | Party calls for fuel tax cut

The Plaid Cymru leadership wants a 3p or 4p cut in fuel duty.

Policy director, Cynog Dafis, told a press conference at the start of the party's annual conference in Llandudno that the executive had taken an emergency motion on the the issue of fuel prices, which would be debated on Friday at 1430.

He said that the government had failed to foresee the substantial increase in world market prices, and to act to mitigate it.

The motion calls for a cut in road fuel duty, effectively to offset the increase in VAT receipts which the government has received as a result of the price increase.

Cynog Dafis: Plaid "not opportunistic"
It calls for investment in integrated and affordable public transport, reiterates support for congestion charging, and urges consistency of taxation on European and global levels.

Mr Dafis said: "The government allowing an increase in fuel duty showed its failure to appreciate the different economic needs of the south east of England and out-lying regions."

He denied Plaid Cymru was being opportunistic, saying that unlike the Tories the party was not linking the cut in fuel duty to tax cuts across the board.

He said it would be a temporary measure, and it would be acceptable for the duty to go back up once oil reached about $20 a barrel.


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