Wednesday 1 November 2000

Fuel protesters plan four-day nationwide rolling blockade By Andy McSmith and Nigel Bunyan

Light it up and pump it down - People's Fuel Lobby People's Fuel Lobby Hot topics - Confederation of British Industry 10 Downing Street Freight Transport Association Hauliers for Action

A HUGE convoy of fuel protesters will spend four days crossing England from north to south, blocking motorways and cities along the way, in what threatens to be the biggest civil action since the poll tax riots 10 years ago. Protest organisers have rejected pleas from the Confederation of British Industry not to revert to direct action, and claim that public opinion is behind them. Digby Jones, the CBI's director general, said that such a demonstration would cause immense economic harm to "Britain plc" and harm the nation's reputation abroad.

He said: "The television images of blockades in the boardrooms of Detroit or Johannesburg or Tokyo is not the image which will help anybody in the long term. It is a big issue and I would call on people not to do it." However, the Government appeared to have abandoned any hope of averting the protest yesterday. Instead, ministers engaged in tough talk aimed at turning public opinion against the protesters.

Tony Blair promised his full backing to police chiefs who have told him that they will "vigorously" uphold the law when the protests begin again. He says in an interview with today's Daily Mirror: "We have to act responsibly and sensibly and no government can act on the basis of people threatening to bring the country to a halt, or even blocking food supplies, or threatening Armageddon or all the rest of it."

David Handley, the Monmouthshire farmer who is leading the People's Fuel Lobby, claimed to have "110 per cent" public support for what he promised will be a peaceful protest. He said: "The message is that this is the last time we are coming to talk." With less than a fortnight before the expiry of their 60-day deadline for resuming action, the protesters have decided not to repeat their blockade of fuel depots, not least because it was the tactic the Government was most likely to be able to counter.

Instead, they plan a four-day drive towards London, with a convoy of lorries setting out from Tyneside and being joined by others on the way. It will begin on Nov 10, two days after Gordon Brown is due to deliver his autumn statement to the Commons, which may include a concession on fuel duty.

After travelling through Newcastle upon Tyne and York on Nov 10, Leeds and Manchester the following day, Stoke, Wolverhampton and Birmingham on Nov 12, and Northampton and Milton Keynes on Nov 13, the convoy will reach the Houses of Parliament on Nov 14, the day after the deadline expires. A similar mass lobby would arrive in Edinburgh on the same day. Mark Francis, a Welsh haulier and the vice chairman of the People's Fuel Lobby, said: "The only thing which can call this off is a big cut in fuel duty announced by Gordon Brown on Nov 8. We have opened our bidding at 26.2p per litre,"

A 26.2p cut in fuel duty would cost the Exchequer an estimated B#10.5 billion. A cut of 15p, which might be sufficient to avert the protest, would cost about B#6 billion. Either figure is likely to be unacceptably high for the Chancellor, who insisted that he will stick to his financial strategy "even when facing rising oil prices, blockades and demands from individual sectors of the economy".

The Government, police and oil companies have spent weeks planning their reaction to renewed fuel protests. However Malcolm Brinded, the chairman of Shell UK, warned the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into the impact of fuel tax, that it would be "foolish to be over-confident". He said: "There will be a restriction on supplies we are able to deliver and it will have an impact on national life."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000122257519214&rtmo=r2kkm23X&atmo=YYYYYYbp&pg=/et/00/11/1/nfuel01.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), November 01, 2000