24/11/2008 by admin.

The Road Haulage Association says it is both bitterly disappointed and angry that despite putting forward a strong case for UK hauliers that seemingly received a sympathetic response from Government, the Chancellor announced an INCREASE!!!! in fuel duty to compensate for the VAT reduction by 2.5 per cent.

“This is an outrageous announcement”, said RHA Chief Executive Roger King. “We have been putting forward the case of unfair competition from foreign hauliers for many years. Indeed the Transport Select Committee itself made a case for measures to level the playing field between UK hauliers and their continental counterparts. Therefore this announcement represents not only a smack in the teeth for UK hauliers, but challenges the conclusion of Westminster’s own Select Committee. 

“The Chancellor claims that the increase in duty is offset by a reduction in VAT. But he does not seem to appreciate that while this may be true for motorists, it is NOT true for hauliers because they can reclaim VAT in full.

So this represents a real increase in the industry’s operational costs and is not what we expected or what UK plc deserved.”

 RHA National Chairman Andy Boyle added: “I am absolutely livid at this announcement. If things were not bad enough, it now seems that we have a Chancellor who does not understand his own tax system.” Darling was a pretty poor Transport Secretary. He has carried his talents to the treasury!

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24/11/2008 by admin.

…but here’s the important bit:

The Government intends to announce new agreements with at least two forerunner city-regions at Budget 2009.

…if that isn’t Greater Manchester and Teeside, I’ll eat my hat

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24/11/2008 by admin.

Not sure about how much use the VAT reduction would be but at least Alistair Darling has made the right decision on air  passenger duty which will be changed to a four-band system rather than charging per passenger….

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24/11/2008 by admin.

I read with sadness of the job losses at the Northern Echo in Darlington and the closure of several district offices, including Stockton, where my father, Bill, began his career.

I almost took my own first job at the sister weekly, the Darlington and Stockton Times who offered me a post when I was 16. I decided, instead, to go back and do my A levels, followed by a degree. I returned sometime later for an interview for the Echo news editor’s job…and didn’t get it.

That extra five years’ education would count for little now were I still in newspapers. I niaively thought that the tradition and quality of newspapers  like the Northern Echo, the Yorkshire Post, and the Journal, would save them from the excesses of the owners. How wrong I was!

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