‘Transfer fuel duty powers now to benefit local people’ – Hazzard | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

‘Transfer fuel duty powers now to benefit local people’ – Hazzard

Sinn Féin South Down MLA Chris Hazzard will support a motion at the Assembly raised by Sinn Féin calling for the transfer of powers to set a local fuel duty levels. This follows a week where petrol prices at the pumps reached an all time high. It was revealed that motorists in Northern Ireland pay the highest price in Europe for their fuel.

Speaking to Newry Times, Mr Hazzard said:

“One of the reasons that Sinn Féin are putting forward this motion is because it is quite clear that the British Government do not set their policy in the best interests of people living in the north. They are overseeing a fuel duty policy that has resulted in local people paying some of the highest prices for petrol and diesel in Europe and their policy affects us much worse than consumers in Britain. The Executive needs to take action to secure the transfer of these powers to ensure that a policy which is set that is tailored locally and have politicians oversee it that are responsive and acutely aware of the needs of local people.”

Hazzard continued, “Sinn Féin supports the transfer of all fiscal powers from the British Tory government to locally accountable politicians and I think there is an onus on us to act as swiftly as possible as this is having a detrimental impact on business overheads, the price of goods and jobs.

“The British Government is planning to put another 3pence onto the price of fuel later this year. Members of the public expect us to act in their best interests and it is not in their best interests to allow the significant level of excise duty that is applied here to continue. The south which is going through greater economic difficulty at the moment can have an excise duty that is some 16 pence less than ours so there is no reason why we couldn’t negotiate the transfer of these powers and seek a reduction in duty.” ENDS

Related articles:

Motorists in Newry feeling the pinch over petrol prices

Motorists could face prosecution over failure to pay at forecourts, warn Police

Irwin slams fuel price hike in 2012 budget

SDLP’s Dominic Bradley critical of chancellor’s budget

Conor Murphy: ‘Any benefits will be wiped out by fuel duty increases’

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Posted by on May 1 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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