FUELLING DOUBT ON GOVERNMENT ABILITY

The FSB, the UK’s largest business organisation busts the myths that a fuel duty stabiliser is too complicated and expensive to put in place, in a new report published last month.

Critics have said that putting a fuel duty stabiliser in place – a mechanism to adjust fuel prices in order to alleviate the impact of oil price rise shocks on pump prices – is too complicated, expensive and bad for the environment.

However, in a new report ‘A fuel duty stabiliser – is it really that complicated?’, the FSB busts these myths and shows that it is simple, affordable and crucial to allow businesses to plan.

By basing the stabiliser on the oil price cycle, the level of fuel duty could be calculated against a trend price for oil. This would then be adjusted at regularly timed intervals following changes in the oil price cycle. So setting the level of the stabiliser would be straightforward: fuel duty would be X pence per litre minus a proportion of the difference between the current oil and trend oil price.

Introducing a fuel duty stabiliser would also provide greater certainty for businesses and families by stabilising the cost of fuel and allowing them to factor in fuel costs as they plan for the future. FSB research shows that the rise in fuel duty and uncertainty over fuel prices will have a significant impact on small businesses leading them to increase prices, freeze pay or even lay-off staff. The FSB is concerned that the cost of doing nothing to alleviate pressures of high fuel prices on small firms will vastly outweigh the cost of implementing a fuel duty stabiliser in the short-term.

The Government has said it is putting its faith in the private sector to lead the recovery, and the FSB believes that by introducing a fuel duty stabiliser, small firms will be able to effectively plan and grow their business.

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