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So after supporting Sovietised banking, now George knows better than oil companies how to run their own businesses? Is there nothing he cannae lie, I mean, do?

“BP have absolutely no excuse for not passing on any fuel price falls to customers. It would be a scandal if they do not.”

Doesn't Osborne realise that we have a competitive range of fuel suppliers which should see fuel prices come down? For Osborne to go about this issue the way he has is just crass political posturing, the sort of thing you might expect some thicko leftie.

Not so much as getting on the front foot, but putting his foot in his mouth.

The market, not a desperate politician trying to get himself out of a self-made hole, should decide the retail price of petrol. Osborne is making a fool of himself - time for a change of Shadow Chancellor!

Osborne is damaged goods now and statements like this wont rehabilitate him.

Come on guys. 90% of people in the country will agree with Osborne and 99% of motorists. The price of oil is tumbling. It's common sense to demand a petrol price cut.

Osborne makes this statement and people immediately slap him for saying something. If he had left it alone the selfsame people would have been asking why he hadn't said anything.

I am afraid that it is not that simple. While the price of a barrel of crude has fallen from $145 to $65 over the past three months, in terms of sterling, the drop is from near £72 to £40. Taking into account the fact that the government takes a total of nearly 67p per litre in taxes and when we take into account the cost of refining, distribution and retail margin of 15p, the drop in prices at the pump is commensurate with the fall in price (in fact the hghest price at the pump did not reflect the $147 at all - it was more commensurate with $135 a barrel.

Sorry to spoil your party guys. And, no I do not work for an oil major.

"The price of oil is tumbling. It's common sense to demand a petrol price cut."

My be you would expect to hear that from some idiot Union leader or thicko leftie, but we should expect better from a Conservative Shadow Chancellor. If the Conservatives believe in the market mechanism then that will see fuel prices come down. So is Osborne saying that forecourt competition is failing? So what's his plan to introduce more competition? The fact is there isn't any problem with forecourt competition, the only reason Osborne came up with rubbish like that was to opportunistically trying to ingratiate himself with motorist and against the 'nasty' oil company who has made some chunky profits ( I presume he's also against al the nasty chunky taxes BP will be paying the exchequer ) but it also suggests Osborne isn’t aware that 2/3rds of petrol prices is taxes, and of the rest its going to be effected by the 25% fall in the price of sterling.

Osborne must also be aware that oil is always pruchased on a forward basis - no price drops for at least six months, I'm afraid.

So after supporting Sovietised banking, now George knows better than oil companies how to run their own businesses?

So if you are in a position of authority, you "know best" and therefore whatever you do is justified?

So I guess then Labour would be justified in bringing in 90 days detention, forcing ID cards on all of us and throwing our money away because there's no one who has the right to tell them how to run the country?

With the £ destined to be 50p against the dollar, petrol will be too expensive to buy. Garages then to follow pubs into socialist inspired economic oblivion. Lay off BP, they help fund most peoples' pensions!
Sad to say, I am beginning to think GO is out of his depth.
In fact I am beginning to worry about our Party per se. Loyalty should not be blind. Please prove me wrong, you have before!

"So if you are in a position of authority, you "know best" and therefore whatever you do is justified?"

Its for the BP management to know how best to run their company, its their fiduciary duty to do their best for their shareholders, its not for George Osborne to tell them at what level they should sell their petrol. If Osborne believes that petrol prices aren't coming down on the forecourt, then that is a competition issue. If he thinks there is a competition problem what's his pan to introduce more competition? If there is no plan then its right people see Osborne’s outburst as little more than low brow political opportunism.

I have never commented before but this entry exasperates me. "Front foot"? "Front foot"!

Has Conservative Home been bought by George Osborne? This is not the site I remember. Bring back Sam Coates!!

Its about time George Osborne was the recipient of one of his own legendary text messages;

'don't bother waiting by the phone after we win the election'.

C'mon now, the oil majors wouldn't do a thing like that - just like the banks have lent responsibly at all times and don't need a penny from the public purse to bail them out

Last week I pointed out that unless our Front bench did something then the polls would start to reverse. I hate to say it but as I said the gap appears to be closing (no idea why anyone would vote for Labour but there you are.)

The front bench are just standing in front of an open goal and instead of kicking the ball hard enough to break the netting and bring down the goal posts they just apologise for doing nothing wrong and being there in the wrong place with a very nasty referee.

Please prove me wrong front bench or shortly we will need the substitutes on the pitch

...and just in case your wondering the substitutes might well be UKIP

How can Osborne be on his front foot, having just so comprehensively shot it?

Or else what? Labour has a possible windfall tax in its ideological back pocket. What does Osborne have? Does he support a windfall tax?

I thought the Tories were all about letting the market look after itself.

I'm really put off by conservatives this week and it's only tuesday .. last week was just a non story and handled well.
This week we have a dissapointing revenge exaggeration on the BBC with people here loving it and admitting to being not above such socialist style revenge and then GO telling an oil company what to do. Why has everyone gone all labour?

It is very concerning that the shadow chancellor does not apparently understand anything about how an oil co is run. a career in CCHQ anyone?

he also is not apparently supporter of free markets. go figure...

finally, even if you "justify" this "front foot" statement as being "political" - I'd call it a weaselly, unedifying and spineless search for votes personally - he doesn't appear to realise that our target marginal seats floating voters will all have pension funds invested in the FTSE 100 in some way.

i despair...

This is a complete own goal. BP and Shell are two of the most significant contributors to employment and taxation in the UK. In addition, they represent stocks held by a massive percentage of the UK's pension funds. Anything that means they earn better returns, employ people and provide corporation tax receipts to fund public services is good for the UK. End of story. Moreover, Dave and Gideon want moves away from fossil fuels to renewables. How the hell do they expect the billions in new technology that is required to be generated except by such companies who are already committing to such plans?

Osborne's posturing is populist nonsense. The reduction in the price of crude per barrel will feed through in Q4 08 and Q1 09, dependent on where the price goes.

This kind of ludicrous statement shows how totally devoide the Conservative Front Bench is of economically-literate talent.

I'd prefer if he went on the front foot on policy not bashing petrol companies.

Going by Yogi's figures, 67p fuel duty+VAT, 15p retail margin, the oil companies were charging 32p a litre in July (114p price at Asda) and are charging 18p now (around a quid at Asda) which represents a fall of 44%.

The sterling adjusted oil price has fallen 40% since July, so it looks like the price has come down exactly as it should have.

Why exactly is Comrade Osborne attacking the oil companies?

This is desperate, ignorant populism at its worst.

Small business plans look good. Not a fan of pilloring the oil companies when so much of it is tax, mind you.

Have any of you critics actuallty read georges press release about removing barriers to small business bidding for public sector work?

Damn fine stuff - absolutely spot on - a shame this blog article leads with a throw away quote on a different subject.

BP asked to pass savings onto the consumer? - well not exactly free market thinking - but until we have a tory government who can fix the free market that labour have worked so hard to cripple - it is a better suggestion than asking the government to do anything. Do you critics think the government (whoever it is) should keep its nose out of OPEC's business too? No - I didn't think so... see it isn't a perfect free market... yet.

As well as the obvious Pound / Dollar issue which has been pointed out above, what about stock? he cost of prducing the petrol sitting in a station is based on crude prices in previous weeks.

The UK petrol market is one of the world's most competitive. Nothing to see here move along please.

(I do work in the oil industry)

ps. The link the the press release is near the end of the orginal blog entry - check it out.

I am sure labour will be stealing the ideas in it (I hope they do!) - but just keep reminding them where all their 'best' ideas came from.

yes, he does redeem himself with the small business thing.

Since when did Conservative politicians consider company profits to be "too high" and demand that they lower prices? I'd have been annoyed but unsurprised if the statement was from Brown but I'm shocked that it has come from Osborne.

That doesn't mean that I don't want prices to come down or that there should be no action in the event that cost decreases do not filter through into retail prices as they should in a competitive market. Resident Lefty is sadly right - the only legitimate reason for such posturing is to use it as a prelude to the threat of windfall taxes (wrong though they are in the absence of any evidence of excess non-competitive profits).

His small business proposal is already implemented, the idiot. Try supply2gov.org.uk

Mean while home repossessions are up by 71%, which is most definitely not the result of a global economic issue, but directly the result of Gordon Brown's debt fuelled economy, that’s if the Conservative Shadow Treasury ream can be bothered to make the connection and ensure people understand it and know who to blame.

Good try, Tim, at making bricks without straw! Where did he say this - On whose platform - London Underground's?

This is piffling light-weight detail. We need a visionary approach in a major speech where the apocalypse created by over-borrowing should be contrasted with a vision where the people's energies are released to pull us through - lower taxes - lower expenditure (like the £12bn down the drain today on the NHS failed computer scheme -see FT - I don't suppose Cameron/Osborne even know about that! ). lower interest rates and an end to 'job-creation in local government.

Set the people to save Britain. Come to think of it, that worked before in 1951!!

Amazing smackdown by Yogi. Can you just rustle up devastating ripostes to the Cameroons on any topic? What about their pensions policy?

George Osborne: Man of the future.

Being (normally)a supporter of GO I agree that this is purely posturing - the sort of thing that Brown does all the time. But perhaps we shouldn't knock it - The Daily Wail and our dismal electorate will love it.

After being in hiding for a week does Osborne really expect people to take him seriously? If he does he's deluded. Hopefully, Treasury Questions on Thursday will be his swansong.

Perdix - They won 't love it. They'll ignore it- a couple of column inches on page 94 and that'll be it. It has no theme, no distinction IN PRINCIPLE to anything Labour says. it wasn't part of a major policy statement . Nothing to excite the media at all. Does the party actually HAVE a press office? Or anybody coordinating (even producing ) a themed policy ?

Don't wish to be negative but George was responding to third quarter results. The price of oil was high during BP's third quarter!I sincerely doubt their profits will be anything like as high next quarter. I'm sorry to say I don't think this was one of George's finest moments.

'Resident leftie' - I assume you don't run a small business that could benefit from georges proposal?

supply2gov is a half hearted effort the the 'business link' quango to generate income...

The even offer to *sell* european opportunities that are freely available elsewhere on the internet.

I can see that a socialist would consider supply2gov a success - because they don't have a clue about the private sector.

Disappointed to say the least. I've always been an Osborne fan, but this is just silly.

He should propose cutting taxes on petrol, not telling companies to reduce their profits!

Isnt that the sort of poliitcal argument that leads to the eventual "central planning" that the book The Road to Serfdom warned against?

Unless this is reverse psychology. Since Labour steal Tory ideas all the time, hes perhaps hoping that Labour will steal this one not realising how incredibly stupid such an idea would be in practice? But then again, hes have to be pretty smart for that plan to work, and I really doubt Osborne would be right on such an assumption.

Maybe Im wrong here but shouldnt that money be left for reinvestment into further exploration? My understanding is that all the easy deposits have been found and the remaining bits will require much more finance to get into.

I've never been an Osborne fan. The man has the oratorical ability of an amoeba. Yes, this is important. Look at the way in which the harrumphing Hattersley was able to stitch up the tories on Question Time last week. It's all a tissue of rubbish but only a speaker at least as effective can slice through it. Osbo has neither the passion, nor the dexterity, nor the boldness to hold the left up to ridicule. In addition, he doesn't seem to be such a master strategist, either. As to his convictions, they would appear to be for sale. If I had shares in BP, I would not be happy with little George. And how does this chirpy convert to intervention imagine that investors will be attracted to a company that trims its profits at the behest of a vote hungry desperado? It's time to oppose Labour, not to ape them.

"Being (normally)a supporter of GO I agree that this is purely posturing - the sort of thing that Brown does all the time. But perhaps we shouldn't knock it - The Daily Wail and our dismal electorate will love it."

Posted by: Perdix | October 28, 2008 at 16:39

Exactly. All the hysteria about petrol economics and GO demonstate that so many people are disconected from political reality. If Labour say it you just shrug at their possible improved popularity but if a Tory says it we get all this rubbish. GO, and the Tories had to say this just to mark a spot, if he hadn't it would be sure to be mentioned in parliament this week. As long as so called Tories keep jumping on Tory spokesmen for being populist the more you demonstrate why we have a Labour government.

Now go and read what Osborne says about small business.

"Now go and read what Osborne says about small business".

OK, I think that will be priority no. 73 today.

If Osborne had thought for a momdent he would have remembered that oil isd priced in dollars and the price of oil has only fallen slightly faster than the value pf the pound has fallen. So don't expect much more off pump prices.

Why don't politicians think before they open their mouths.

“BP have absolutely no excuse for not passing on any fuel price falls to customers. It would be a scandal if they do not.”

this is politics and the situation needs to be managed. forget the reservations about the time lag in the price of oil, what George sais was , in the context, apposite and correctly played.

"OK, I think that will be priority no. 73 today."

Posted by Henry Mayhew - non business ukipper.

If anyone wants a good laugh, please see todays Telegraph - main cartoon and while you are at it, also read that marvellous piece by Lord Tebbit. He cracked a good one last night - ' monetary incontinence like any other form of incontinence givs an immediate feeling of warmth and well being, but very soon turns into an embarrasment'.

He's always believed in Keynesian economics. You go to a dining establishment in Oxford, smash it up, offer a large cheque to the owner to prevent them from going to the police, thereby spreading the prosperity around. Nothing has changed.

Posted by: pp | October 28, 2008 at 17:15
'Resident leftie' - I assume you don't run a small business that could benefit from georges proposal?

supply2gov is a half hearted effort the the 'business link' quango to generate income...

The even offer to *sell* european opportunities that are freely available elsewhere on the internet.

I can see that a socialist would consider supply2gov a success - because they don't have a clue about the private sector.

You assume right that I wouldn't benefit, but otherwise you are wrong. I am a social democrat, not a pure socialist, and I am in business, and Osborne's proposals are no help at all, or else they have already been implemented.

While you can pay to see contracts outside your area on supply2.gov.uk, you get those in your area free, for example Greater Manchester. There are two or three contracts to bid for every day in my sector, and some of them are much larger than the £100,000 minimum. And the portal charges money to those willing to pay in order to be self-financing. Don't you think that's a worthy goal? I'm not 100% happy with it, but as more businesses and government agencies use it the better it will be.

I'd like to see the introduction of a much improved portla service to directly introduce angels to businesses to deal with the tricky business of getting equity funding under £1M.

Resident leftie - I don't approve of quangos - business link and its ilk's main motivation is self-peretuation.

I have used supply2gov, and found it useless.

Osbourns proposals (properly implemented) would be very helpful.

Ouch. I hope mummy and daddy don't reduce his trust fund allowance.

Resident leftie - I don't approve of quangos - business link and its ilk's main motivation is self-peretuation.

The self-financing aspect makes supply2.gov.uk attractive. In general I agree with you, I think most of BERR is a waste of space, and much of it could be abolished starting with the Export Credit Guarantee scheme for the defense industry.

The self-financing aspect makes supply2.gov.uk attractive.

It is financing a service that adds nothing.

Put the raw info online and people can choose whether to pay for (or create their own) 'filtering'/'email' service or do their own thing.

Is there an RSS feed? No? Why not? Put the raw info online and somone will write one.

The 'service' is just a 'tax' on access to public information.

Public information should be openly available and british businesses can build servcies on them.

JANET held back UK internet (everyone uses IP now), BT held back UK broadband, OS hold back UK geographic services (everyone uses google maps now...), crown copyright holds back UK information services etc...

Ditch the controling vested interests who are milking the british public and let british entrepreneurs add value and create wealth both nationally and internationally. Based on ADDED VALUE not based on MONOPOLY, nor based on making the public PAY for public sector information that they FINANCED in the fist place.
--

ps. Darlings new support for small business? - lend them more money (presumably so they can afford to cut through all the red tape we have been lumbered with) - I hope (for their own sakes) that Brown and Darling don't have credit cards, they would be up to their limits, and borrowing on one to make minimum payments on another, and if they got a consolidation loan, they wouldn't pay them off, they would just head down the shops again...

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