Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MP Angus Brendan MacNeil has called on Scottish Fuels to ensure that the price differential in Fuel between Stornoway and Inverness is only 5p a litre when the EU implemented Fuel Duty derogation is implemented in the rural areas from this Thursday 1^st March. As of today the price difference between Stornoway and Inverness is 10p a litre for unleaded and 10p a litre for diesel.

Commenting Angus MacNeil said:

“It is important that with the Fuel Duty cut being  implemented in rural areas this Thursday that the price difference between Stornoway and Inverness is only 50% of what it was at the beginning of the week.

“There have been two increases in fuel over the past few days going up by an aggregate of 5p a litre.  I would hope that this will not change the price difference between the Hebrides and the mainland, and that the other islands where the fuel duty cut pilot is being implemented, will also see the price differential decreasing by half.

“It is extremely important that when the Office of Fair Trading are conducting a report into the prices for consumers in rural areas that they will specifically look at the price of fuel between the islands and places like Inverness. When the Rural Duty cut comes into effect, I would hope that they closely monitor the prices, as we all hope that we will see prices between areas falling rather than staying static.

“It is important to remember that this is a pilot scheme, and that if the prices are not being passed on by the fuel companies, the scheme will undoubtedly be a failure, and will see complaints flooding in. We need to ensure that this scheme works, or if it is seen not to be working, then it will probably not go past the pilot scheme stage.”