WHILE we all ask ourselves how last week's fuel crisis could have happened, and arguments rage about the tax on fuel, the effect on the environment has come way down the list of considerations.

It was the Tories who introduced the Fuel Tax escalator (annual increases above inflation) with the aim of reducing consumption. Gordon Brown has dropped the tax escalator but now relies on the revenue for public spending on schools and hospitals. The windfall of extra VAT from rising prices goes into his pre-election war- chest! Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to:

Place a real-terms cap on fuel taxes for five years.

Use the VAT windfall for environmental projects and to benefit the travelling public.

Support people in rural communities through rate relief to rural fuel stations and increased investment in community public transport.

There is no reason why fuel tax raised locally should not be used to directly benefit local communities.

C G J TUCKER,

Throckmorton, Pershore