Reid welcomes Scottish Secretary's suggestion that Islands could benefit from pilot fuel duty discount scheme

12.59.15pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Jul 2009

Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll & Bute, welcomed comments made by Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy that islands in Argyll & Bute could benefit from a pilot fuel duty discount scheme. Mr Murphy was speaking during a recent visit to the Western Isles.

Mr Reid had put forward a proposal for a pilot fuel duty discount scheme on one or more islands during a recent meeting with the Scottish Secretary.Alan Reid MP: Argyll & Bute

Alan Reid had told Mr Murphy that the price of fuel was always much higher on the islands in his constituency than in urban areas. Mr Reid suggested that the Treasury could experiment with a pilot scheme on one or more islands. This pilot scheme would involve cutting the rate of fuel duty on the island(s) in question.

Mr Reid said that other European countries operate remote rural fuel duty discount schemes. He pointed out that there would be no possibility of fraud because it would not make sense for anyone to buy fuel on the island and transport it back to the mainland.

Following Mr Murphy’s recent comments Alan Reid said,

“Jim Murphy’s comments are encouraging. The Treasury’s concerns have always been that motorists would drive into the area covered by the discount scheme to fill up their tanks. However, a pilot scheme on islands would clearly avoid this type of abuse. Nobody would pay the ferry fare to an island to fill their tank.

“I am pleased that a Government Minister has said that the islands of Argyll & Bute would be their favourite area for a test scheme. I will keep up the campaign to persuade the Treasury to establish a pilot scheme on one or more of our islands. A reduction in the extortionate fuel prices on our islands would be a tremendous boost to their economies”