1650 Hrs GMT 1750 UK Time London Tuesday 27 May 2008: Khoodeelaar! the constitutional law Campaign against the ‘Crossrail hole Bill’ [the ‘Crossrail Bill’, now in the UK ‘legislative’ ! ‘House of Lords’], continuing to dissect the Big Business, anti-constitutional, antidemocratic manipulations of ‘parliament’, the Big Business-influenced sabotage, defiance, violation of due process in the UK Parliament and the Big Businesses, Military Industrial Complex-lobbyed lies being peddled via the bureaucracy of the ‘House of Lords Crossrail Bill Select Committee’; KHOODEELAARR! again advising Gordon Brown to scrap the wasteful, sham CROSSRAIL hole plot Bill NOW..... Especially as the word ‘SCRAP’ is being used in a separate TRANSPORT issue related piece in today’s EVENING no standards STANDARD [see TEXTS REPRODUCED BELOW].. We shall expose the EVENING STANDARD’s own lack of standards when [peddling the CRASSrail hole plot. They have NEVER called on Brown to SCRAP that !!! We assess the ‘difference; between the EVENING STANDARD’s use of ‘scrap’ in relation a fuel-related measure in the ‘budget’ and the same paper’s failure, refusal to use the word SCRAP: about Crosaseail [To be continued]
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LONDON, TUESDAY 27.05.08
BROWN SET FOR ANOTHER BUDGET U-TURN AS MINISTERS HINT HE MAY SCRAP FUEL TAX RISES
Last updated at 16:27pm on 27.05.08
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Two Cabinet ministers paved the way for a Budget U-turn on car taxes today as the Government struggled to halt the slide in its popularity.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw and Business Secretary John Hutton stressed that there would be a fresh look at Budget plans to raise vehicle excise duty by up to £200.
Labour insiders are prepared to ditch the most controversial element of the scheme - to impose a retrospective tax on cars bought between 2001 and 2006.
The change could come in the pre-Budget report in the autumn, although it is possible it could be announced even earlier.
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Rebel MPs are pushing the Treasury to stop the damage to Labour by using the final days of the committee stage of the Finance Bill next month to signal that some of the rises planned for next year and 2010 will not go ahead.
Amid fears of a fresh revolt by Labour MPs, Mr Straw said ministers were 'listening to public concerns'.
He added: 'It's already been made clear in respect of vehicle excise duty, that's the car tax, that this is not due to come into force by next April.
'If there are going to be decisions about this, they could be announced in the autumn statement. It's very important that we take proper measures and we judge things properly.'
Similarly, Mr Hutton - referring to the climbdown over scrapping the 10p tax rate - said the Chancellor was 'listening to what people are saying as he has done on a number of occasions recently about tax rises'.
The Business Secretary added: 'People are concerned about it and it is right that we listen to people's concerns.'
Jack Straw and John Hutton have both hinted there could be a U-turn on road tax
Next week a delegation of rebel Labour MPs will meet Mr Darling to voice concerns over backdating the increases in vehicle excise duty to all cars bought between 2001 and 2006.
The move, which was championed as a 'green' tax, will hit seven out of ten motorists, including the owners of popular family cars and small runarounds.
Gordon Brown is facing a fresh backbench rebellion over the plans, which would see seven out of ten motorists hit by higher road taxes.
Mr Hutton said: 'We are trying to get this balance right between encouraging choices to go green but not hammering people.'
Asked about today's action by hauliers, he added: 'Again, the Chancellor has got to take all that into account ... people have the right to protest.'
Hundreds of truckers descended on London in protest at rising fuel costs, amid fresh concerns among MPs about the Government's proposed road tax changes.
Depending on their car engine emissions, millions of drivers will have to pay hundreds of pounds more per year under Budget proposals that kick in in 2009.
Rebel MPs are particularly unhappy the road tax increases will now apply retrospectively and are warning the issue could be as damaging as the 10p tax row.
Mr Darling is set to hold two crisis meetings with backbench Labour MPs next month in a bid to head off the revolt.
Sources close to him today said he was 'very aware' of backbench concerns that the increase could damage the party's waning popularity still further.
At present, motorists are exempt from the top tax band if their car was bought before 2006 but the Budget tax rises - claimed to be a 'green' tax - apply to all vehicles bought between 2001 and 2006.
A host of family cars bought before March 2006 - many used every day for the school run - will see their road tax double from £210 to more than £430.
These include the Vauxhall Zafira 2.0i, the Vauxhall Vectra 2.8i V6 Turbo, the Renault Espace 2.0 Turbo 170, the Ford Galaxy 2.3i Zetec, the VW Passat 3.2 estate and the Honda Accord Tourer 2.4.
According to tax experts, Nissan Micra owners will pay 24 per cent more while the bill for a gas-guzzling Hummer will go up only 14 per cent.
Retrospective: The Budget tax rises apply to all cars bought between 2001 and 2006 as well as new vehicles
Backbenchers warned Gordon Brown and Mr Darling that the issue was so explosive it could match the storm surrounding the abolition of the 10p tax band which saw a Government U-turn and a £2.7billion climbdown.
The rebellion risks further undermining the Prime Minister's authority as he fights to head off a leadership crisis, the row over holding terror suspects for 42 days and fears of a Cabinet resignation over embryology laws.
In the new case of backbenchers flexing their muscles, 42 MPs - 35 of them Labour - have backed a Commons motion from Ronnie Campbell urging ministers to reconsider the car tax.
'It is unfair on people who bought their cars a few years ago not knowing that the Government were going to put this road tax on,' the MP for Blyth Valley said.
'When people get their road tax letter through the door next year and find they have got an extra £200 to pay - well, I don't have to say any more, do I? The motorist is taking the brunt again.'
Rebellion: Labour MP Ronnie Campbell has tabled an amendment asking the Government to reconsider the road tax
The new taxes threaten to wipe thousands of pounds off the value of most cars when they come to be sold.
And from 2010 motorists face a 'showroom tax' of up to £950 when they buy a new car to discourage them from choosing high polluting vehicles.
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Labour MP Rob Marris, a junior member of the Government, said there was a 'significant risk' the issue would outstrip the storm over the 10p starting rate of tax.
'It is retrospective taxation and that is undesirable,' he added.
'Millions of people will be affected. Medium- sized family cars, depending on what sort of engine they have got and what size of CO2 emissions they have got, could be hit very hard.'
Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: 'There are ways around the fuel price increases that are good news for the climate and good news for drivers' pockets.
'Keeping your speed below 55 can save more money than the recent price hikes and cut CO2 as well.
'But in the long run the Government needs to force car manufacturers to build more efficient vehicles.
'As it is Gordon Brown has failed to take a lead in Brussels where talks on vehicle efficiency are coming to head.'
Neil Greig of the Institute of Advanced Motorists said: 'This will affect millions of motorists and is particularly unfair to those who bought a car based on the size of their family and will now be hit with a tax they weren't expecting.'
Catch-22: A U-turn could make Gordon Brown's leadership look even weaker but without a change of heart, he risks a damaging backbench rebellion
A delegation of rebels will meet the Chancellor when MPs return to Westminster next week.
Mr Marris told the BBC: 'I shall be urging Alistair Darling to have a rethink. There is still time to have discussions and I hope they will be fruitful.'
Under the existing system, cars are divided into seven bands for vehicle excise duty ranging from £300 to zero depending on greenhouse gas emissions.
From next April, there will be 13 groups with the highest cost of road tax increased to £440 and some family models will move up several bands, leaving the middle classes to bear the brunt of the changes.
Rises for small runabouts will also outstrip those for Rolls Royces and Porsches, demolishing Government claims that it is a "green" tax.
Last night Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Now the credit crunch has hit people's pockets, there's no longer any public appetite for higher green taxes.'
A Treasury source told the Mail: 'Alistair knows it is a cause for concern and he very readily agreed to meet these MPs and hear those concerns.
'But he will be will be very disinclined to do anything, whatever it is, before the pre-Budget report in the autumn.
'He has to look at the whole thing in the round. He is already looking for £2.7billion and it ain't easy.
But Environment Minister Joan Ruddock made clear the Government would not be forced into another tax U-turn.
'These things are all a matter of balance,' she said.
'What we cannot afford to do is to lose sight of the environmental agenda because this is everybody's future. This is the future of the planet.'
Mr Campbell, speaking on Radio 4's The World at One, also urged Mr Darling to drop the planned 2p increase in fuel duty in October.
'People just at this moment can't afford it. They really are feeling the pinch,' he said.
A Treasury spokesman said the aim of the road tax reforms was 'to ensure that people gain financially by choosing the car that pollutes the least.
'For 24 out of the 30 most popular models bought in 2006, drivers will generally pay lower rates than they do now.'
It is another headache for Mr Brown, who was warned by civil liberty rebels that he still faces a battle over his proposals to detain terror suspects.
On top of that, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, a Roman Catholic, is reported to be planning to defy the Prime Minister by refusing to vote for his plans to extend embryo research.
• The French President today declared the European Union should consider capping sales tax on fuel products if oil prices rise further.
Nicolas Sarkozy also suggested siphoning off extra revenues from taxes on petrol to create a new fun for professionals hardest hit by the jump in energy prices.
He told RTL radio there was no sign the price of oil was going to fall and said the EU should consider a joint approach to the problem.
'If the price of a barrel of oil continues to rise, are we going to allow VAT (sales tax) to keep rising proportionally? My proposal is that we should stabilise it,' he said.
Such a move would need the approval of all 27 EU member states and could not be introduced unilaterally.
READER VIEWS (6)
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Panic sweeps through the Labour party and the budget is re-written (10p fiasco), then re-written again (fuel duty), and presumably will be re-written again in the next few weeks. Gordon Brown's claims to economic competence are in tatters.
- Ian, London
Simple solution to high fuel prices: Walk.
There is no limit to how much oil countries can charge for oil, because the alternative is so harsh. So if petrol doubles or triples in price you will still pay for it because its a comparative bargain. One barrel of oil is equivalent to 7 man years of work.
- Peter, Battersea
I'm all for green initiatives and sometime we do need to be pushed, however, while the country's transport links and infrastructure are so poor and in such disarray, this seems ill thought out and badly planned.
- Jamie, London
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