Fifth hearing for Fuel Petition
WESTERN Isles MSP, Alasdair Allan, addressed the Scottish Parliament Transport Committee last month in support of the petition on rural fuel costs raised by Am Pàipear.
The petition has moved from the Peitions Committee of the Parliament where it was heard three times to the influential Transport Committee and has now been heard there twice: a rare privilege for a public petition.
The committee agreed to keep the petition alive as they investigated a number of issues and requested that the Scottish government once again write to the UK government to petition on the issue of fuel taxation, which remains a reserved matter.
It emerged in the latest correspondence betweem the committee and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney MSP, that the Scottish government had invited stakeholders to talks through the summer but that Scottish Fuels, who deliver and set the price of fuel in the islands, had not met government officials ‘due to the unavailability of representatives of the company.’
Dr Allan commented: ‘I was very grateful for the opportunity to speak to the Transport committee today about this petition and the hugely important issue of rural fuel costs, which in Uist [on the day of the meeting] was 122.6p a litre for petrol and upwards.
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