Pumping up discontent

The Lizard is a compassionate soul and would never kick a man when he’s down, which means that when it comes to Premier Brown he is rather out of step with the rest of the electorate – not to mention many Labour MPs. All of whom seem intent on doing just that.

We had the ‘election that never was’, we had the 10 pence tax u-turn, the electorate delivered the kicking that was the Crewe and Nantwich by-election and now the truckers are getting in on the act.

The fuel protests of 2000 were Tony Blair’s first real test, but back then he was still an overwhelmingly popular PM – not something you could say about Gordon – and he effectively saw them off.

The mantra coming out of the government now is that they are listening – so will they listen to the fuel protests? The lorry drivers are demanding an ‘essential users’ reduction on the price of diesel of anything between 20 and 25 pence a litre. Will they get it?

The Lizard is not a betting reptile but he wouldn’t bank on it. Don’t all drivers feel they are essential users? From the mum living in the countryside who has to get to Tesco to the chief executive who has to get to the airport. It might be fun to support the truckers now, but if they won, wouldn’t we all want a piece of the action?

The other problem the government has is the cost of such a reduction - they just don’t have the money to play with anymore. The 10p tax fiasco is said to have cost around £2.7bn and bought them not a single vote at the recent by-election. The government will almost certainly hesitate before dipping into their depleted coffers.

On the horizon we have the 2p tax increase on fuel scheduled for April but deferred till October. Given the huge increases on a barrel of oil and the subsequent price hikes at the pumps, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to predict that this will be quietly buried.

Then there are the VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) increases on older gas guzzling cars. Drivers will start paying more when they renew their tax discs next year.

The changes are likely to affect nearly 70 per cent of Britain's 26 million motorists, who could find themselves paying up to £245 a year more for their tax disc.

There are also plans to hit drivers with a £950 ‘showroom tax’ when they buy a new car.
One Labour MP had a nice line on all this, he called it a ‘poll tax on wheels’.

So will Gordon execute another hasty u-turn and grant the truckers their wishes or will the lorries just roll right over the government?