New fuel price protests test ministers' green resolve

Ministers face new protests over the spiralling cost of fuel with Labour MPs threatening to revolt over road tax increases and hauliers taking to the streets over rising diesel prices.

Thirty-five Labour MPs have signed a Commons motion demanding the Government reconsider plans to increase tax for the most polluting cars. The concern is that plans for increases in road tax on older gas guzzlers will risk a repeat of the 10p tax fiasco.

They are angry that the changes will affect cars registered after 1 March 2001 and insist that changes should not be retrospective. Ronnie Campbell, the MP who put down the motion, said he was planning to hold talks with the Chancellor Alistair Darling when Parliament returns next week to ask him to back down.

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He told the BBC: "It is unfair on people who bought their cars a few years ago, not knowing that the Government were going to put this road tax on. When people get their road tax letter through the door next year and find they have got an extra £200 to pay – well, I don't have to say any more, do I? The motorist is taking the brunt again."

Yesterday, Rob Marris, a ministerial aide to the Northern Ireland Secretary Sean Woodward, added his voice to the protests over "retrospective" car taxation.

Hauliers will take to the London streets today to demand a fuel tax rebate for essential transport operators amid warnings that the price of diesel could force operators out of business.

They are hoping for record numbers to protest at soaring prices that have seen diesel hit £1.20 a litre.

Mike Presneill, a leading member of Transaction 2007 helping to organise the protest, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The Government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are going to the wall. Thousands of jobs are being lost."

John Hutton, the Business Secretary, is calling for wide-ranging reform of the energy sector, arguing that Britain must become a world leader in green technology to protect itself from booming oil prices.

He will tell business leaders in Cambridge today that Britain must follow the example of California's response to the fuel crisis of the 1970s by investing in energy efficiency and renewable power to ease dependency on oil imports.

Mr Hutton will call for action to increase oil production to ease global oil prices that have helped push petrol beyond £5 a gallon.

But he will call for urgent reform to protect Britain against oil price shocks and create a generation of "green collar" jobs in environmentally-friendly industries. He will say: "In the long term the only effective way to insulate ourselves and other oil consuming countries from future oil price spikes is energy efficiency and substitution.

"In the early 1970s the world faced comparable price volatility. Some econ-omies had the vision to diversify and innovate. California blazed a trail, invested heavily in exploiting its natural resources, and is today a world leader in renewables like solar and wind power. This should be the inspiration for responsible economies today."

Meanwhile, Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, sparked environmentalists' anger by rejecting calls by an all-party committee of MPs for a system of personal "carbon credits" to limit individuals' emissions.

Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the Government's Sustainable Development Commission, warned against allowing an economic downturn to detract from environmental concerns.

"I think there is more of a risk now that there might be a backlash against some environmental policies ... There is a lower environmental commitment in times of economic recession."