Soaring petrol prices

THE Country Land and Business Association, which represents thousands of small businesses as well as farmers and landowners, is demanding that the Government stand by an eight-year-old pledge to “rural proof” its policies by cutting road taxes on vehicles used in the countryside.

The Government promised take the extra costs of rural living – like transport – into account when fixing taxes by so-called “rural proofing” but this promise has not been kept, says CLA president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher.

But it should start doing so now by lightening the load of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) in rural areas, where huge rises planned for next year could cost 4 x 4 owners an extra £400 plus.

He added: “The proposed changes in VED represent an ill-advised tax and would hit many in the countryside very hard indeed. Furthermore, it is not even green. The proposals would not make a substantial difference to CO2 emissions. Indeed, Greenpeace has described it as ‘the kind of measure that gives green taxes a bad name’.”