Fuel duty cut will cost £500,000,000

[Alun]

Plus almost everyone drives horribly inefficiently, or has an inefficient car (or both)
And most people don't even bother shopping around for the cheapest fuel in the area.

Clearly they can afford to pay much, much more for fuel.

A startling generalization, for someone with the tag of "evidence based cyclist"!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

With roads, hospitals, education, etc available to everyone?

Stop with the socialism already. Private enterprise is where it is at. Do catch up. Socalism, along with the police, fire service, sewerage, defence, etc., etc., is just so 19 Century.

 

[gavintc]

OK, Assuming a car does 40 mpg and fuel cost £1.40. That means that each mile is costing roughly 6.3p in fuel. If you drive a total of 5 miles out of your way to find some cheaper fuel, it has 'cost' you 31.5 p. So, you need to make sure that you put a decent amount of fuel into the tank or that the saving is worth the drive. I have had this discussion with colleagues that the cheap fuel in the next village is nothing of the sort.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I'm ashamed to admit voting for a Lib Dem. Next time it'll be for Labour.

then you'll get a pure Tory government rather than a coalition....

 

[GrumpyGregry]

If you work on the fact that delivery vehicle fleets can achieve economy of scale, how much do we need to put fuel duty up by to give us an income tax cut that will be enough to pay for any increase in the price of goods caused by the duty rise?

Or in other words how do we price cars off the road without affecting our general standard of living?

Price private cars off the road. What a wonderful idea. Please allow me to buy you beer next time we meet.

 

[gavintc]

So, I take it that the opinion of most CC posters is that the government should ignore the fact that the country is rather poor and just spend as normal - just like the last government. Let us all put our fingers in our ears and sing 'La La La'.

 

[mickle]

So, I take it that the opinion of most CC posters is that the government should ignore the fact that the country is rather poor and just spend as normal - just like the last government. Let us all put our fingers in our ears and sing 'La La La'.

How did you come to that conclusion?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Well bollocks, I have seen the light and my life lacks all meaning.

I know just how you feel. But some of my Toryboy friends have explained it all to me. Apparently we plebs just have to trust the posh boys and it will all work out fine for them.

 

[martint235]

Price private cars off the road. What a wonderful idea. Please allow me to buy you beer next time we meet.

How could I possibly refuse?

 

[martint235]

I know just how you feel. But some of my Toryboy friends have explained it all to me. Apparently we plebs just have to trust the posh boys and it will all work out fine for them.

I thought it was the role of us plebs (junior ministers included) to answer the difficult questions when the posh boys are too scared to come out to play have more important things to do.

 

[byegad]

. Please allow me to buy you beer next time we meet.

Does this apply to everyone who agrees with him?

 

[martint235]

Does this apply to everyone who agrees with him?

Anyone who agrees with me or disagrees with me or who even hates my guts is welcome to buy me a beer next time we meet. I'm not fussy.

 

[Davidc]

OK, Assuming a car does 40 mpg and fuel cost £1.40. That means that each mile is costing roughly 6.3p in fuel. If you drive a total of 5 miles out of your way to find some cheaper fuel, it has 'cost' you 31.5 p. So, you need to make sure that you put a decent amount of fuel into the tank or that the saving is worth the drive. I have had this discussion with colleagues that the cheap fuel in the next village is nothing of the sort.

4.55 x £1.40 = £6.37 (price per gallon)
At 40 mpg that's 637/40 pence per mile = 16p per mile.

Even George Osborne wouldn't try to slip that one past us!

then you'll get a pure Tory government rather than a coalition....

That depends how other people respond.

I'm not sure what would happen if we recalculated the result of 2010 on the basis of a 100% redistribution of Lib Dem votes to Labour!

 

[smutchin]

Even George Osborne wouldn't try to slip that one past us!

You also need to factor in the other costs related to motoring - IIRC the true cost of running a car is something like 24p a mile, so driving those extra five miles for cheap petrol is even more of a false economy than gavintc has made it sound.

 

[martint235]

Another illusion shattered.

I hate doing that to people!!! I really must learn to judge my audience better.