PERHAPS before people get carried away with the present arguments on the petrol tax they might be interested in the truth.

PERHAPS before people get carried away with the present arguments on the petrol tax they might be interested in the truth. I think that is probably doubtful however, because it is quite obvious that this protest has been organised by two organisations that have always been anti Labour.

The Tory Government in 1993 brought in a system of progressive rises in motor fuel tax. It was known as the 'Escalator'. With this formula, fuel tax was increased each year by a figure exceeding the cost of living.

In the 1996 Budget, the last one by the Tories when the Chancellor was Kenneth Clark, the tax was increased by three pence, when it was said that the Chancellor had stuck to his pledge to raise the fuel tax by at least five per cent each year. At the time the Chancellor said and I quote: 'I firmly believe that the motorist should bear the full cost of driving, not only for the wear and tear and the congestion on the roads, but also the wider environmental costs.' This is just a few months before the Labour Party came to power.

Far from being the bogey man portrayed by the farmers, who on this issue seem to be as thick as the stuff they spend their life in, it was Gordon Brown who did away with the escalator.

This was done in November 1999 and gained him much approval from a large motoring organisation, who saw it as 'a reduction in future costs for people who live in the countryside' and also from the Country Landowners Association.

The reason for the recent price increase has been the surge in the world price from ten dollars a barrel until recently it approached 35 dollars a barrel. That is totally out of control of this or any government.

If people expect to be compensated by reducing the tax to keep the price down they should remember that for every 2p reduction in tax that a billion pounds has to be found from some other source. Let all those people advocating this reduction tell us how much it should be cut and where are the cuts to be made in public spending or where the taxes must go up to cover this amount.

N S Benyon

Hughenden Avenue

High Wycombe