MP in call to cut fuel duty in rural North Yorkshire (From Gazette & Herald)

MP in call to cut fuel duty in rural North Yorkshire

7:39am Wednesday 27th February 2013 in News

AN appeal for rural areas of North Yorkshire to secure lower fuel bills and better flooding insurance for the region’s residents has been made to Chancellor George Osborne by a North Yorkshire MP.

Ahead of next month’s budget, Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh said she was “making the strongest possible case” for parts of her constituency to be considered for a rural fuel duty rebate if a pilot scheme is extended.

She said Hambleton and Ryedale had some of the highest prices in the country and residents had to drive further to fill up because of the rural nature of the areas.

She also said she was concerned many homes will have no insurance cover against flooding when a safety-net agreement called “statement of principles”, committing insurers to offer insurance to customers at significant risk of floods, expires at the end of June, saying a levy on household contents and buildings insurance through the “insurance premium tax” could be used to wholly or partially replace it.

Miss McIntosh has written to the Chancellor to state her case, saying: “High fuel duty is crippling the rural economy and having a high impact on families, the elderly and vulnerable and businesses. Public services, school buses, waste collections and emergency services are also costing more to deliver in rural areas due to this.”