Reaction to fuel duty suspension

Motoring organisations and business groups are among those to have voiced their opinion on the government's decision to postpone the proposed 2p rise in fuel duty.

The price of unleaded petrol has risen 25% over the past year

This is good news but it does not go anywhere near giving the UK road haulage industry a level playing field to compete with foreign truckers.

What's happened today is a little like someone with a gaping wound going to hospital and merely having the blood wiped away.

What we need is for the haulage industry to qualify for an essential-user rebate on fuel, which would cut the price of diesel by 25p a litre.

The Chancellor has pulled a populist rabbit out of the hat by scrapping the 2p rise, but this is a drop in the ocean compared to the extra �2 billion that the Treasury intends to take from the motorist over the next two years.

This was a sensible decision, a pragmatic decision, and it's not something that is bad for the environment.

The cost of fuel has already ratcheted up so much - way above any fuel duty escalator, and people are using their cars more sensibly, they are driving more slowly, so they are doing their bit for the environment.

As far as the postponement is concerned, yes, obviously we are delighted but it represents, in the face of spiralling fuel costs, quite a small drop in the ocean.

This will be a welcome relief for hard-pressed hauliers, businesses and other motorists, especially since fuel prices have risen so much.

But in the longer term, the government needs to level out the playing field so that UK hauliers can compete with their foreign counterparts who enjoy far cheaper fuel prices.

We welcome the announcement today. But we think the government can go further.

High fuel prices are crippling small businesses in every sector and in every area of the country.

A method which uses extra oil tax revenue to reduce fuel taxes would be a far more efficient way of easing the pain of small businesses and motorists of all kinds.

The high price of fuel is bringing down demand and the revenue expected from the tax hikes has already been generated in the form of a multi-million-pound windfall. Businesses are being pushed to the absolute edge by the painfully high price of petrol at the pump, with many firms left with no choice but to pass on extra costs to the hard-up consumer. Postponing autumn's 2p hike is a step in the right direction, but businesses would like to see this needless tax scrapped altogether.

The scrapping of the increase at a time of high world oil prices was inevitable. However, at 50p per litre, UK diesel duty for commercial vehicles is twice the EU average of just 25p. Given that almost everything we consume every day is the product of a lorry journey, then higher fuel prices contribute to price rises for everything else we buy. The government cannot do much about the world price of oil, but it can reduce UK duty to bring it closer in line with the rest of Europe.

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