Dame Rebecca Harris, Member of Parliament for Castle Point, recently attended the FairFuelUK reception in Parliament and committed to support their campaign to keep fuel duty frozen, help motorists and to keep costs down.
Speaking after the reception, Rebecca said: “I am backing FairFuelUK’s Campaign for the Chancellor to continue the last Government’s freeze on fuel duty. Labour have promised not to increase taxes for working people. A rise in fuel duty would hit people who use a car or a bus to get to work hard, as well as traders who rely on their vehicles for work every day.”
Dame Rebecca supported the previous Conservative Government’s actions to freeze fuel duty every year since 2011 and then going further by cutting it by 5p in 2022 to help with the cost of living. This delivered a £250 saving alone over the last three years and a £13 billion tax cut for hardworking families.
The Conservative Government commissioned the Competition and Markets Authority to look if any more could be done to protect consumers. A consultation was launched in January this year looking to introduce a new PumpWatch scheme where forecourts would be legally required to share live information on their pump prices within 30 minutes of any change in price. Dame Rebecca will be pressing the Labour Government to publish this ask what plans they have to introduce this scheme.
In London, Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion hit 57,000 drivers with £26 million of fines in its first month alone and has affected so many in Castle Point who had no say in his election but who can no longer afford to get to hospital appointments, or to where they work or study. Meanwhile in Wales, Labour have cost the economy billions by rolling out a blanket 20mph speed limit and refusing to build any new roads.
At the recent general election, Dame Rebecca stood on a manifesto that committed to never introduce pay per mile road taxes, would ban mayors and local councils from doing so and ruled out blanket Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones and will oppose any of these if they are brought forward by the Labour Government.
The Conservative Government was also consulting about introducing much higher fines for overrunning roadworks, temporary traffic lights and lane restrictions. These too often blight commutes and cause gridlock across Castle Point roads and so Rebecca will be holding Ministers to account to make sure they continue with this important work.
Rebecca is deeply concerned that the Chancellor has publicly stated that taxes will rise in the Autumn Budget and the impact this will have on motorists across Castle Point. She will be supporting FairFuelUK’s campaign to keep fuel duty frozen.
