Fuel Protests - 2 July 2008
Next Wednesday (July 2nd) will see a two-pronged protest over high fuel prices: a rally of trucks through central London starting at the A40, followed by a mass lobby of Parliament.
The protesters are a mixture of several organisations: Wednesday’s protest was originally organised by pressure group TransAction – a loose collective of hauliers that was behind some of the protests in 2000 and the two demonstrations in April and May this year. However, since it was first suggested the Road Haulage Association has come on board as has the Transport Association, which represents around 60 of the biggest family-owned haulage companies in the country. The other industry body, the Freight Transport Association, has been conducting its own campaign and dialogue with the government and does not favour direct action.
The reason for the blockade is the price of fuel. This has soared by over 40% the last 12 months from 76p/lit this time last year to an average of 106p/lit per litre now. Although clearly this has gone up across the world the UK government has exacerbated the problem with a particularly high tax take – 50p on a litre of fuel. Apart from the Netherlands we pay the highest fuel tax of anywhere in Europe. The government is still planning to add another 2p of tax to a litre of fuel in October.
