§ 7. Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold)If he will make a statement on the number of petrol stations serving rural communities of 3,000 or fewer which have closed in the last 12 months. [49920]
§ The Minister for Home Affairs and Devolution, Scottish Office (Mr. Henry McLeish)We do not have precise figures, but the report "Petrol Stations in Rural Scotland" estimates a closure rate of petrol stations in rural Scotland of 3 per cent. a year over the past eight years.
§ Mr. Clifton-BrownIs the Minister aware that the road fuel tax regime put in place by the Government in the Budget will increase petrol and diesel prices next year by a staggering 25p a gallon? Will this not lead to further closures of petrol stations in the remote rural areas, to the loss of vitally needed jobs in the rural areas, to misery for those dependent on their car in rural areas and to an increase in freight costs in rural areas? In short, is it not only the Conservatives who can represent those in rural areas in Scotland or in the Cotswolds?
§ Mr. McLeishThat may represent a picture of rural England, but it does not reflect life in rural Scotland. Of course the Government are concerned about the sustainability of rural life. It is all right for the nationalists to make noises from a sedentary position, but the 902 important issue is that car dependency is very high in rural communities. It is not the Government's desire to undermine that in any particular way. There must be a network of rural petrol filling stations to serve local needs. Instead of the ideological position that has been proposed, we are trying to help in hard, practical terms.
Rate relief is available from April 1998 for small businesses, including petrol filling stations. There are derogations on petrol vapour recovery directives to help with capital investment. A new rural transport fund of £400,000 has been earmarked. Details will be announced soon of how we can help filling stations in rural areas. Local authorities and local enterprise companies can help small businesses in a variety of ways with tank testing or low interest loans.
All in all, a practical attempt is being made to help sustain rural life. That is advantageous to Scottish rural life. On Wednesday, in Scotland, we shall be outlining our White Paper on transport. Again, the importance of these issues will be recognised.
§ Mr. Robert Maclennan (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)Is the Minister aware that the grave disadvantage that is faced by petrol stations in rural areas, notwithstanding the sensible, practical measures to which he referred, is the price of petrol that they are forced to charge, which is uncompetitive and is leading to people having to travel further and further afield? Will the hon. Gentleman seek to persuade his Treasury colleagues that variation in petrol duty and value added tax, which is within the rules of the European Union, is a course which should be considered seriously?
§ Mr. McLeishWe rightly have consistent petrol duties being applied throughout the United Kingdom. The Government are determined to take at face value the problems that we see in rural areas and try to apply practical measures. It may be easy to offer solutions that relate to petrol duty, but, in practice, they would be very difficult to administer and would prove extraordinarily difficult throughout the country. That is why we are concentrating on practical measures. I think that that is the way forward. Our approach is to identify issues that we can influence and, as a Government, to be serious with people in rural areas and not pretend that we can do things that we cannot.