Finance Bill

I have some sympathy with the new clause, not least because I tabled similar amendments in the past few years, in particular in what was new clause 6 on the Floor of the House on 28 June last year. Proposed new subsection (1AB)(b) of that new clause provided for"““specific fuel duty reductions targeted at fuel sold in sparsely populated areas””." I hope that the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) recognises that, as the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) did not in last year’s debate. The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey has at least sought to answer some of the legitimate questions posed about similar amendments over the past few years. He has, however, left other questions unanswered, and I shall touch on those in turn. Subsection (2) of new clause 8 says:"““The purpose of the Scheme is to provide a rebate on road fuel duty to qualifying persons at qualifying retail outlets.””" At that point, the hon. Gentleman should have mentioned qualifying vehicles. The hon. Gentleman has tried to use regulations to define remote rural areas. In a sensible attempt to bypass the definitions already in place—which, off the top of my head, I think may cover 95 per cent. of the land mass or 30 per cent. of the people—he has limited the definition to the land mass that contains no more than 3 per cent. of the population. It may be arbitrary and need to be defined a little more, but that approach is sensible. The hon. Gentleman said that regulations would provide for a system of eligible vehicles. A great deal more work is required to be done on that, especially if we are not simply taking account of the cost of living issues in remote rural and sparsely populated areas, but considering economic development in those areas as well, particularly in relation to a very short seasonal tourist trade. I am not making a special pitch for that tonight, but work should be done on that issue in conjunction with the rest of this area. The hon. Gentleman did not define the primary residence qualification, which would have been useful in defining who and what was eligible, but work could be done on that. He did say that the regulation would look at how administrative costs would be defrayed. The difficulty is that that would cover only the administrative costs of a system that might be cumbersome and slightly bureaucratic—although it would not necessarily be so. There is no attempt to specify how the real cost of the reduction might be funded, as we did previously with the VAT offset. Having said all that, I would not normally support an amendment with so many weaknesses, but the hon. Gentleman said that he would seek a derogation and he hoped that the principle of what he was proposing—that the high costs faced by those living in sparsely populated areas should be defrayed—would be accepted. With that heavy caveat on the record, we would be prepared to support the new clause, should he push it to a vote. More importantly, the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman) said that he believed that some of the issues were resolvable. In previous debates, the Financial Secretary has expressed some sympathy for people who live in remote and rural areas and suffer from what are, in some cases, 10, 15 and 20 per cent. increases in the cost of a litre of fuel compared with the average price in the nearest modest county town or city. With the good will that exists, and the persistence shown by many hon. Members on this issue, I hope that a solution to the problem might be found for a subsequent Budget or Finance Bill. I look forward to hearing what the Financial Secretary has to say on this .