Lucy Rigby

Costs for Motorists

I am very grateful to the right hon. Member for his kind comments. I appreciate where he is trying to go with his remarks, but what we are doing with this announcement is saving the average motorist over £120 this year, compared with the plans that we inherited. By saying—as the Prime Minister has—that we are going to extend the cut until 31 December, we are trying to give people a bit of certainty and reassurance. We recognise that family budgets are really stretched at the moment, which is why

Costs for Motorists

Mr Speaker, your comments have been fully noted, and I will ensure that they are fed back to the entire ministerial team. The Government are taking steps to support households and businesses with fuel costs in response to the conflict in the middle east. A rapid de-escalation in the middle east remains the best way to bring down fuel prices. The most impactful step, of course, would be to reopen the strait of Hormuz. That is exactly why the UK Government are playing a leading role in the interna

Spoke in debate: Costs for Motorists

Parliamentary appearance by Lucy Rigby

Costs for Motorists

Put simply, as I said, the shadow Chancellor’s party would have had motorists hurtling full speed towards higher fuel costs. It is only because of the action that this Government have taken that we have applied the brake to the hikes that his party would have introduced. The Conservatives would have introduced higher costs; we are keeping the freeze on fuel duty and protecting millions of motorists right across the country. Exactly as I said, we are taking further measures on red diesel and for

Costs for Motorists

Mr Speaker, the Chancellor will come to the House later on today, and she—

Costs for Motorists

My apologies, Mr Speaker. I had intended to say just then that the Chancellor will come to the House and give a full statement on everything, including the matters that we are discussing. I am sorry that the shadow Chancellor is so upset and appalled by the recent growth figures. I am in the business of talking this country up rather than down. Indeed, I am grateful to him for highlighting that growth has been revised up, interest rates are coming down, inflation is coming down and real wages ar

Costs for Motorists

My right hon. Friend makes an important point. I know how passionate he is about these issues. He refers to changes made at the Budget, which were made with the best of intentions and from the point of view of encouraging the use of electric vehicles. I believe that the Chancellor may say something on that later on.

Costs for Motorists

The hon. Member makes a really important point about the cost that farmers are facing, but that is exactly why we are taking steps to cut the duty on red diesel by more than a third to its lowest rate in over 20 years. As I said, that will help not just farmers, but other sectors, too, including in relation to freight. I am afraid that, as so often, we hear suggestions from the Liberal Democrats, “Cut this”, “Cut that”, “Try to bring things down”—[Interruption.]—but they are never funded. We man

Costs for Motorists

The package of sanctions in place today is stronger than the package of sanctions that was in place last week. We have a world-leading sanctions regime in this country: at the moment, we have more than 3,300 sanctions on Russian entities, businesses, individuals and ships—the list goes on and on. Why does it go on and on? It is because of our steadfast support for Ukraine.

Costs for Motorists

I wholeheartedly reject any accusation or idea whatsoever that we are somehow going soft on Russia and Putin. That is completely wrong. The new package of sanctions that we have introduced is stronger today—[Interruption.]

Costs for Motorists

My hon. Friend raises an important point about the critical nature of bus services to the entire country. That is exactly why we are providing more than £3 billion for buses over the next three years, to cap fares at £3 and maintain and improve services. That includes funding for local authorities to put in place local fare initiatives if they wish to do so, as I believe the North East combined authority has done. We are also making reforms to bus franchising, which will allow for new and better

Costs for Motorists

The best way to get to energy security is by doing exactly what the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is doing at the moment with the push towards renewables. New licences in the North sea would not bring new oil and gas on stream for another 10 years, so they really are the wrong solution.

Costs for Motorists

I am glad to hear that the measures will help the Malcolm Group in my hon. Friend’s constituency, as indeed they will hauliers right across the country. She raises, as other hon. Members have, an important point around welfare. She also alludes to freight crime, which has been discussed at length in this House and is something in which I am particularly interested, given the nature of my constituency. The Government are taking forward action to seek to deal with freight crime, as well as taking

Costs for Motorists

Okay. One of two things is true: either the Leader of the Opposition said that she would have taken us into the conflict and she did not mean it, in which case she is really confused, frankly; or she said it and she meant it, which is demonstrative of catastrophic judgment. Neither of those things—catastrophically bad judgment or deep confusion—is an ideal quality for someone who wants to run the country.

Costs for Motorists

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. It is because of the fiscally responsible choices that the Chancellor has made that growth and real wages have gone up, and inflation and interest rates have come down. [Interruption.] These things do not happen by accident; they are because of the fiscally responsible way that the Chancellor is managing our economy. That is fiscal responsibility for a purpose, that purpose being to support working people across this country.

Costs for Motorists

I am grateful to the hon. Member for her question, but if it would have been so mad to deal with fuel duty in that way, why was it her party’s intention to do exactly that? On oil and gas, we have been very clear that they will play a part in our fuel mix for years and years to come.

Costs for Motorists

My hon. Friend raises the important issue of hauliers and the road haulage sector. What we are discussing today is so critical to the costs that hauliers are paying, including vehicle excise duty, which of course is on top of the changes we are making to fuel duty to save hauliers money. This is one of the ways in which we are recognising the critical role that hauliers play in setting costs, including of consumer goods. All these things fit together, and I recognise how important the sector is

Costs for Motorists

I think that these suggestions are being made with the best of intentions, but with the deepest respect to the hon. Member, this is all motherhood and apple pie. If we want to do these nice things, we have to be able to say where the money will come from.

Costs for Motorists

As I said in response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), I appreciate that this is a really important issue, and I know what an important issue it is to my hon. Friend and his constituency too. As I said, I am more than happy to take up the matter, and I will discuss it with the Exchequer Secretary.

Costs for Motorists

I am afraid that the hon. Member has entirely missed the fact that the plans that his Government left in place would have seen fuel duty go up. It is only because of the action that this Government are taking that millions of motorists across the country will save money.