I can't remember the last time a budget was still being talked about, and still controversial, months after it was delivered. But as the BBC reports, George Osborne has engaged in yet another Tory U-turn - I've now lost count:
The government has announced it will postpone its 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty in August until January next year.What's abundantly clear is that Westminster is infested by a bunch of amateurs, which at a time of Eurozone meltdown and an attempted power grab by the EU bodes well....
The move follows a campaign by road users' groups, who argued the increase would damage the economy.
Fuel duty will be frozen for the rest of the year, Chancellor George Osborne told MPs, adding that this would benefit families and businesses.
Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and MPs from other parties had threatened to force a Commons vote on the issue.
The Sun newspaper and several Conservative MPs have also been pushing for a change of heart, amid concerns that prices at the pumps are squeezing living standards.
This was a reaction to Balls saying Labour would drop the 3p tax increase and The Sun applauding him. Osborne doesn't want to be cast as Mr Nasty - he'd rather be Mr Incompetent but Listening.
ReplyDeleteThey're amateurs when it comes to policy and implementation because they've never run so much as a whelk stall in their collective lives.
However, submitting to the demands of the EU and/or being outmaneouvered at every turn seems to come naturally.
And they want us to trust them ....!
They may well be better-off by not increasing the fuel tax.
ReplyDeleteThe last rise in fuel prices caused a call in fuel sales.