Osborne and Oil

Some laud Osborne for being clever, always a dubious epithet in cynical Britain.  I wonder if he's remembered his cunning 2011 wheeze, the 'Fuel Duty Stabilizer', which set Fuel Duty to rise automatically in the event the price of oil fell below $75.

Probably seemed a bit hypothetical back then, with oil at $90 and rising.  So, Genius George, what happens now ? 

More generally: how are you going to parlay this economic windfall into a Conservative victory ?  Better not squandor this one.

ND

Footnote:  the new 17% interest rate in Russia must ring mournful bells for Cameron, who in 1992 was SPADing for Norman Lamont when the latter fatally announced a rate of 15%.

Tory Fuel Tax Plan

The new announcement by the Tories of a fuel tax plan is at least travel in the right direction. The Tories can see the madness of extra taxes at a time of crisis and of adding to the inflation level by making fuel even more expensive that it has to be.

However, there are 2 awkward holes in the pitch as I see it:

1 - In order for this to work, it means that the Tories will have to 'pick' a 'right' price for oil. As the price of oil has increased 9x over in 10 years, this is quite a feat - beyond the best market participants. How the government is meant to know this is quite hard.
If they get this wrong this policy will seal high prices for everyone - a 40% drop in oil price will not feed through to the paying public.

2- It is playing a game with the public finances, so Labour and the Lib Dems are right to point this out. To make this a safe play, £3 billion odd of savings should be outlined - thus making this a complete win win. With current government spending far out of control, finding £3 billion should be a doddle. Perhaps start by looking here.

Iain Dale thinks it is a great idea; well, at least it is populist and not haranguing us to eat less food by the Prime Minister...