Rob
Marris: My hon. Friend said that the regime has been
amended and tweaked, to use my words, since it was introduced in 1935
when, I would venture to say, environmental concerns about emissions
from vehicles were not high on the agenda of any Government or
individual. By road surfacing vehicles continuing to use red, rather
than full price, diesel, an incentive is removed that ought to be there
for operators of those vehicles to buy road lane vehicles that are more
fuel efficient. It is precisely because it goes back to 1935 that the
provision is a historic hangover that the Government ought to
address.
John
Healey: Once we start considering the environmental
consequences of such matters, red diesel is a lot less clean than main
road diesel. The types of vehicles involved in various facets of road
construction need to be treated in the way that we propose under the
schedule. Some are quite heavy users of the road fuel network, which is
why some, according to our proposals, will not be eligible in the way
that they have been in the past.
The principal case, which I
have attempted to explain to the Committee, is the answer to the
question of the hon. Member for Braintree. No one can say that road
hauliers are anything other than heavy road users. There is no case and
they have never been excepted road vehicles under the terms of schedule
1. Therefore, there is no case for their being treated as such even
though they may wish to make other parallel arguments about the levels
of fuel duty and the costs that they impose as part of their
operations. Finally,
turning to the rather extraneous question that the hon. Members for
South-West Hertfordshire and for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed) asked
me, canal boats come under a separate regime. They are not excepted
vehicles. However, they have a right to use red diesel rather than main
road diesel paid at that rate. The reason is that the UK has a
derogation from the energy products directive in the European Union. It
allows private boat owners to continue to use red diesel—a
derogation that is due to expire at the end of December of this
year. 7
pm Following a
long process of detailed discussion with many boating associations, and
following detailed analysis within HMRC, we announced in the Budget
that we believe that there is a strong case for arguing with the
European Commission that we should havean extension of that
derogation. The UK has the
opportunity to submit an application for that extension. We confirmed in
the Budget that it is our intention to do just that. Alongside the
Budget, we published our first regulatory impact assessment, which we
built in consultation with the boating associations. That sets out our
case quite strongly. We will apply in that way for the UK’s
derogation, which would allow private boat owners in the UK to continue
to use red diesel, and which would mean that we did not incur the cost
and the consequences that an ending of the permission would
entail. The hon.
Member for South-East Cornwall talked about fishermen in his
constituency. Just to be clear, commercial boats are not subject to the
derogation. Commercial boat owners and users can use rebated gas oil or
red diesel anyway, without the provision of that derogation, so they
will not be affected by the European Commission’s ultimate
decision on whether
we will be entitled to extend the derogation that applies to private
boat owners. I hope that that is helpful to the hon. Gentleman, and
generally to Members who raised points about the clause. Given the
hour, I hope that members of the Committee will allow clause 8 to stand
part of the Bill. The
Chairman: I allowed the debate to run on past7
o’clock because I could see that it was coming to a
conclusion.
Question put and agreed
to. Clause 8
ordered to stand part of the
Bill. Further
consideration adjourned.—[Mr.
Heppell.] Adjourned
accordingly at two minutes pastSeven o’clock till
Thursday 11 May at five minutes past Nine
o’clock.
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