𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

For the last month, drivers will have noticed it costs more and more to fill the tank. The conflict in the Middle East may feel a long way away but it is having a huge impact on our fuel prices here at home. This is felt particularly hard in the countryside where we rely on our cars to live our lives.

In rural areas like my constituency in Louth and Horncastle in Lincolnshire, doing the school run, getting to work, popping to the shops or attending a doctor’s appointment involves driving across many miles of rural roads.

We don’t have the tube or a tram network to pop to the shops. There is not a single inch of railway in my constituency to get to work or to a hospital appointment. And the idea that a bus service can adequately cover the mileages involved in such a sparsely populated part of the country is for the birds.

This is why we rely on our cars to get around – as do millions of people living in rural communities across the UK. When fuel prices rise, these journeys to simply live our lives suddenly cost far more, eating into already stretched household budgets.

And there’s also the impact on work. Rural economies rely heavily on industries that are fuel-intensive. Farmers need diesel to power machinery and transport goods.

Tradespeople and delivery drivers depend on vans to reach customers spread over wide areas. Carers who have to drive tens of miles a day to look after people in their homes suddenly find their tight margins are running out. There is no option to work from home for these and many other rural jobs.

As prices rise, these workers face a tough choice: pass the costs on to customers or absorb the losses themselves. Either way, it hurts. Higher prices can drive customers away, while absorbing the costs can shrink already tight profit margins. For small rural businesses, that can be the difference between staying afloat and going under.

But I have bad news for everyone living or working in the countryside, and who are struggling to afford the recent fuel price hikes: Labour MPs voted before Easter to make it even more expensive to fill our tanks. They voted to bring in the Government’s increases in fuel duty in September.

For the last 13 years, the Conservatives froze fuel duty because we understand the impact of the cost of fuel on families’ finances and on the economy.

And in 2022, the last time Britain faced a fuel price crisis of this magnitude, our answer was to cut fuel duty by an unprecedented 5p per litre. We did this to try and offset the surging prices following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Whilst the governments of Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, New Zealand, and Australia, all take decisive action to support motorists with increasing fuel costs this Labour Government is taking the opposite approach.

When people are already being hammered by the highest levels of tax on record, an economy with stagnant growth, rising unemployment and a rocketing cost of living – they choose to take even more of your money.

When I grilled the Environment Secretary in the House of Commons on how she could justify the impact of this latest tax hike on rural families, she gave me an answer about heating oil – which is not much use on the petrol station forecourt! Out of touch or doesn’t care, you decide.

The truth is, this city-dwelling socialist Government is presiding over a growing divide between urban and rural communities. We’ve seen it with the Family Farm Tax, we’ve seen it with record closures of rural businesses, and we’re seeing it with this fuel rate hike too.

If the Government had an ounce of sense, they would cancel this tax raid, greenlight drilling for new gas in the North Sea to secure domestic energy production, and start taking action to reduce the other tax burdens they’ve piled on people since winning the General Election.

People are realising that they cannot afford Labour. Only the Conservatives understand that tough decisions need to be made so that we start living within our means as a country. Only Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives have the plans to make our economy – and therefore our country – stronger in these worrying times.

Victoria Atkins is the Shadow Environment Secretary