Friday 20 July 2012

Persuading the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the fuel companies

Robert Halfon MP and I have made repeated appearances before the Backbench Business Committee in the House of Commons this last month as we battle to bring the big fuel companies into the spotlight over their pricing structures. We all know that they put prices up like a shot when the price of oil goes up yet when the commodity price falls they take weeks or months to pass on the price cut. Put simply, we want the oil companies actions investigated. We cannot force the OFT to act as they are independent of government but if all of parliament asks the oft to act on a cross party basis then we should get results. Other countries are carrying out this sort of investigation so I think the UK should too. Full details of our last joint application are found on this link, which also explains how backbench busines committee works. In reality this debate will be heard we hope when parliament formally rehears backbench debates in September, but watch this space. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmbackben/uc0307/ucbbc0307.htm