South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has urged the Chancellor to extend the Rural Fuel Rebates Scheme to Northern Ireland.
Ms Ritchie has said: “The Rural Fuel Rebates Scheme helps reduce the price of unleaded petrol for people living in rural areas, in recognition of the high costs of fuel and the cost of transporting fuel to filing stations in rural areas. The scheme is currently operating in in different postcodes across Britain but has not been introduced anywhere in the North of Ireland.
“There are postcode areas in the North with high distribution costs for fuel and the roll-out of the scheme in these places could give a great boost to our rural economy. I welcome the Chancellor’s agreement to consider ‘specific cases in Northern Ireland’, but the Government must now follow through with plans to bring the scheme to the North.”
Ms Ritchie put the question to the Chancellor George Osborne during Treasury Questions at Westminster. She said: “… as part of the need to look at fiscal steps to support businesses, will the Chancellor also give favourable consideration to the extension of the Rural Fuel Rebates scheme for other regions that haven’t been already considered?
The Chancelleor of the Exchequer,George Osborne. replied: “I’m very happy to give consideration to that – we’re operating within the maximum flexibility, as we believe it, that the European Union rules allow us on this and any postcode that possibly qualifies we have put forward for the scheme we introduced in the last Parliament, but I am happy to look at any specific cases in Northern Ireland to see if they qualify too.”
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