 Ond ddweud o'r ein лerwgr无 niad o'r Agfaith Cymru i gwelliadau ym Gweinidog, neu am ym Mwneud i'r Agfaith Cymru ein posiwn arser i ddeiligio, ac nid i'r gweld gen i'n gwneud i gyntafod inni yn ym Mwneud i'r Agfaith Cymru i nifer o'r Gwyrd anghyddiol yng Ngwylum Ysbrydau Gweinidog, gan y gweithio pan gallai gyda gweithrwynt yn dda. o'w dwi'n mynd i gyda ni i'n rhanenni gyd wedi'u gwyllennu i gwaith ar gyfer mydd mwy o'r gwaith hynny ti'r gael? efo'r gwyllteb, roedd ffarnio'n ffarnio i ddweud i gael gweddedig, i'r gwaith diwrnod i gweithio i ddim yn bywydio i gael i dda ni'n ddweud i gael ddigon â ddiwyllion yn ydw i ddim yn gwyllteb a gynnigai ddim yn ddgyrchu i ddweud rytheeid. Llywodraeth Cymru, the nine programme, for reporting the campaign to get local fuel retailers to stop ripping off the people of Inverclyde. Oil prices can be volatile and always will go up and down and have become even more unpredictable since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, however Tesco, Morrison's and BP have been ripping off my constituents since long before the war in Ukraine. The three companies continually claim that, and I quote, local competition is the driver for local fuel prices. Using their logic that surely then, if one of them chooses to drop their prices, then competitors would actually follow suit, yet they don't. The greed is good mantra clearly exists with Tesco, Morrison's and BP when it comes to the swindling of my community. I've attempted to engage with all three suppliers over many years and acknowledged that Morrison's did accept that their prices were too high a few years ago and they reduced them. That decrease has long since evaporated. I asked representatives from all three companies to come to Inverclyde to take part in a round-table discussion with interested organisations including the Chamber of Commerce, all three refused. I've also written to the competition market authority and welcome their market study that is under way. It's just a pity that the CMA didn't initiate such a review when I first wrote to them a few years ago. I launched my fair fuel watch campaign to highlight the cheapest garage locally in comparison to the cheapest garage in surrounding areas. This generated a huge amount of discussion on social media and people took photos of the cheaper prices at other garages to emphasise the extent of this unfairness. My constituents are furious knowing that four courts in Dunwne tend to be significantly cheaper than those in Inverclyde. Despite the fact that the tankers have to drive through my constituency, go on a ferry to cross the Clyde to service those four courts. We even have fuel cheaper in Farley and North Ayrshire and once again the tankers drive through Inverclyde to supply those garages. Since launching the campaign it's become clear that garages in Inverclyde are consistently around five to ten pence per litre more expensive than nearby areas. Recent figures from the petrolmap.com website indicate that Inverclyde's four courts are now the most expensive in Scotland. Most colleagues would normally consider that petrol stations in the Highlands and Islands, including Eurone in Orkney, would be more expensive. The proof is there that Inverclyde is now the most expensive in Scotland for fuel. When we consider that Inverclyde has the second highest local share of data zones in the 15 per cent most deprived and the highest local share of data zones in the 5 per cent most deprived in Scotland, the issue becomes even more scandalous. Then you add in that the enormous profits that the oil companies are making. Between April and June of this year the world's five biggest oil companies shared bumper global profits of nearly £50 billion. With BP reporting a global profit of £6.9 billion, it's biggest quarterly profit in 14 years. Those eye-watering profits come as households face unmanagable ermgibills and reports from the BBC suggest that weekly erode fuel prices in the UK have almost doubled since 2016. It's not just fossil fuel companies that are profiting during the cost of living crisis. The Tesco reported profits of £2.56 billion for 2021-22 up by 65.5 per cent compared to the previous year. For 2022-23, Tesco expects its retail-adjusted operating profit to be between £2.4 billion and £2.6 billion. Morrison's have reported a decline in profits but still managed to make £254 million of an operating profit in 2020-21. Interestingly, ASDA reports profits of £693.1 million for 2021, up 42 per cent compared to 2020, and the four courts are typically the cheapest of all the supermarkets in Scotland. While not wishing to simplify the financial accounts of these big supermarkets, I believe that these figures show that they can offer lower fuel prices and continue to make profits. They just need the will. Many of my constituents travelled to Govan or Lymud to fill up at ASDA or the jet garage in Renfrew because they are so much cheaper, many decide to do their weekly shop post outside of Inverclyde. That highlights how cheaper fuel prices also translate into customer loyalty and deciding where to buy groceries. Who knows if Tesco and Morrison's, in my constituency, actually reduced their fuel prices to make them more competitive, they might actually have more customer loyalty when it comes to grocery shopping. I want to highlight the experience of two of my constituents. A lady who has received her terminal cancer diagnosis contacted me recently about the cost of fuel. She is filling up outside of Inverclyde when attending specialist appointments in Glasgow. She wants to remain independent and travel to and from appointments herself, and further, with her condition, it makes sense where possible to travel in isolation as Covid is still here. She wants to tell me about a friend who is in a similar situation, but in her case she has already cancelled appointments as she cannot always afford to put fuel in her car. How can it be right that cancer patients are cancelling appointments because they cannot afford the rip-off petrol prices that Tesco, Morrison's and BP are charging in Inverclyde? The stock answer of being competitive locally did not wash before and it is viewed with even more disdain with every single passing day. These companies have the power to help these two women, as well as many other local people locally. They can keep people filling up in Inverclyde as compared to folk going 50 miles up the road to put fuel in their cars. I have also previously raised the issue of how social care workers and social workers rely upon their own transport to visit people in their homes. And how rising fuel costs are eating into their already squeezed incomes. That is why I am calling on fuel retailers in Inverclyde to cut their four court prices immediately. Tesco said that, and I quote, every little helps and their current Christmas campaign, that they stand for joy this Christmas. And customers can apparently find, and I quote, more ways to say with Morrison's. So why don't they stop ripping off Inverclyde and lower the foot that the pump prices in my constituency? Presiding Officer, I'm going to use the duck test. I'd say if it acts like a cartel, talks like a cartel and rips off my constituents like a cartel. I think that says it all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr McMillan. We now move to the open debate. I call first Jamie Greene to be followed by Neil Bibby for around four minutes, Mr Greene. Presiding Officer, and can I thank Mr McMillan for his fervent efforts to stand up for his constituents? I have to say I share the ethos of a huge amount of what he had to say today with relation to the prices of petrol in our shared local area. I should declare an interest, not only as a diesel driver but someone who fills up his car in Greenock quite regularly. In fact, he makes a very good point that it's actually cheaper and easier to fill up in Edinburgh before I drive back to Greenock and in doing so probably spend more money economically in that area than I do when I get back home. So it's a perfectly valid point to make. Of course, doing some research for this, I will share some feedback from some of the retailers that you talked about. I think it's important to give them their say, but I'll give them their say. Let's not say I won't give them some criticism while I'm at it. But knowing the market as it is, it's up to individual retailers to set prices on a host of factors. Right back in May of this year, the then Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, I'm sure there's been a couple since then, but nonetheless the then Secretary of State asked the chief executive of the competitions and market authority to conduct an urgent review of the fuel market. Now some of the findings I think that will come out of that will be welcome, others were more perplexing. They found that actually the price, the wholesale price of petrol and diesel versus the retail prices had not actually contributed very much to the overall rise in prices. That so-called retailer spread was actually marginal. Indeed we've heard over the years many complaints that there's no money to be made in petrol but that's clearly not the case in Inverglide. They also found an unusual conclusion that they believed that the supply of retail fuel and the differential in prices between rural for example and urban areas is relatively competitive and that variations in the price of fuel including price and disparities simply reflect the higher transportation costs and the lower volumes of petrol being sold, i.e. supply and demand. I'm not quite sure I'd buy that entirely. I do hope that that piece of work continues and some good comes out of it. Of course it's very welcome, always very welcome and the chancellor does his statements and there's any freeze or cut to fuel duty. I think the consumers largely welcome that. The spring statement this year saw a 5p cut to fuel duty across all rates although I'm not aware of any plans to change VAT on that. Nonetheless it is clear from the evidence, the most recent evidence I have today that things are not good. Let's look at some comparisons. First of all I want to look at Tesco's. To be fair to Morrison and Tesco they responded to me when I asked for comment on today's debate. None of the others did or if they have they're too light. Tesco said to me that their policy is to be competitive on price locally. I think we need to be very careful about what that actually means. What this does mean they say is that there can be a small price variance in two petrol stations when compared if one is outside of the local area. This concept of local priced competitiveness is one that will crop up. Morrison said exactly the same. Morrison's, yeah if I get my time back. Stuart McMillan. Thanks Jamie Greene for taking the intervention. I think we would all accept that small price variations can happen across any particular market. However, when price variations can range up between 5 pence and 10 pence per litre with the same company but in different local authority areas that clearly there's not a small differentiation. Jamie Greene. You're absolutely right. In fact it's a little bit misleading to say there can be a small price variance in their formal commentary. I would like Tesco to listen carefully to this debate because small is not this. Today a petrol pest in Colburnay, Tesco is £1.57. I don't begrudge the great people of North Ayrshire for getting cheap petrol but in Greenock it's £1.72. That's not a small difference. The same goes with Morrison's. He said to me that they operate a local price in policy and fuel. We aim to be competitive in the area in which we operate. That may mean that they are cheaper than Tesco's in some cases in that competitive market in that localised area but it doesn't explain in any way, shape or form, the difference in prices between towns. Morrison and Greenock were charging £1.72.9 a litre for petrol today but Morrison's and Colwynning was charging £1.61.9 a difference. That's more than 10p and the variance can be up to 20p. We haven't got a lot of time to get into great detail what I want to do today but it's very clear that no one has offered any explanation. None of the retailers that did respond to me and I thank them for responding offered up the rationale behind these huge price disparities between one local air and another. We applied a very close to each other. There's no good reason why the prices should be such hugely variable. I will conclude by simply making the plight for the island communities. The price of diesel on iron today is nearly £2, the price of petrol in the high 170s. There are many issues around getting the supply of petrol to iron. Cumbria doesn't even have a petrol station. People have to get the ferry to the nearest petrol station. It's utterly bonkers. All I would say in response is we can criticise all governments that are not doing enough but what we could see on our islands is more charging points for electric vehicles. We are absolutely failing both iron and Cumbria in this debate if we do not highlight the fact and flag the fact that there are very few electric charging points on our island communities and the charging point infrastructure is extremely poor. If we want to get people out of their diesel and petrol cars then surely we have to provide the infrastructure required to make that move to greener modes of travel. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much Mr Greene. Always worth giving additional time for a plea for island communities. I now call Neil Bibby to be followed by Jackie Dunbar for around four minutes, Mr Bibby. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Stuart McMillan for bringing forward this debate and I acknowledge his work on this issue. The cost of living crisis and in particular the rising cost of energies having a real impact on working people. There is no doubt that the rising costs of filling up a car is impacting on households across the country but few more so than those living in the towns and villages of Inverclyde who are paying on average the highest fuel costs in Scotland. Today the petrol map website that Stuart McMillan earlier referenced tells us that the average price of petrol being sits at nearly 175 pence per litre that's almost 10 pence higher than the UK average last week and 22 pence more than in a petrol station in Kilmarnock. That might not seem a lot for one litre but over time that adds up to significant extra costs for local residents. There are clearly global factors causing the increase in fuel prices, particularly the war in Ukraine and that will continue to result in relatively higher fuel prices for people across the globe but it's also clear there are substantial price differences within the country too. Of course this debate takes part during COP 27 and we cannot forget the action that we need to take to tackle the climate emergency and that has been referenced in the motion. As I've said before though in this chamber in the context of the working place parking levy debate that for many of our constituents owning a car is not a luxury it is a necessity and I think that Stuart McMillan made some really important points in that regard. There simply isn't the integrated affordable, accessible and reliable public transport that people need to get to and from their work and to take other essential travel. Put simply for many people in Inverclyde as well as other parts of Scotland there is no public transport alternative to the car. We must also recognise that we cannot wish for people to transition to electric vehicles they are cheaper to run but initial costs are too high for many people in middle and modest incomes and currently electrical vehicle infrastructure is not adequate enough. There are clearly issues here we need to address going forward. But in the hearing now as Stuart McMillan has said petrol station operators could and should commit to bringing local petrol prices in line with neighbouring local areas. People in Inverclyde should not be faced with localised rip-off fuel costs. So like Stuart McMillan I also welcome the competition and markets authority investigation. I also think we need greater transparency on how operators decide the pricing and we need to ensure people across Scotland can get access to online fuel price checkers and encouraged to do so so they can get the best possible deals and are aware of the exploitative pricing policies. We can't take that for granted that people are aware. People are facing higher fuel price that's on top of rising home energy costs the weekly shop and now for many mortgages too. We need both our governments to deliver real help to support people with the cost of living crisis and the Labour Party will continue to put forward credible solutions on how to do that. That's why we continue to call for a proper and meaningful windfall tax on oil and gas companies which would force energy companies to pay their fair share. Companies like Shell who have recently posted anewatering £8.2 billion of profits in the last quarter. The enaction on that is seeing billions of pounds of taxpayer money going back into the pockets of oil and gas giants. Presiding Officer, this must change if people in Inverclyde and across Scotland are to get help with fuel costs with the cost of living and to get a fairer deal from oil and gas companies. Thank you, Mr Bibby. I'll call Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Paul O'Kane for around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and to be transparent, I should probably tell the chamber that in a former life I was a manager of a petrol station and then once I had the burn I then went to work for Tesco in a petrol station and I have some shares still with them, so just for transparency. Presiding Officer, I congratulate my colleague Stuart McMillan on securing this timely debate. I agree with him that his constituents across Greenock and Inverclyde must not be disproportionately impacted by four-court prices, but I don't quite agree it's down entirely to the four-court owners. I think that some of the blame must lie with the UK Government's lack of action to combat skyrocketing fuel prices, combined with the abysmal action that the UK Government has taken to combat the cost prices. Although the Scottish Government continues to take all the action that it can within the powers and financial constraints we operate within, we need more action from the UK Government. Some steps which could help include a cut in the rate of VAT and a reduction in fuel duty. I will join the member if he wishes, if he's going to write to the chancellor with those urgent requests. Presiding Officer, the current fuel duty is 57.95 pence per litre, which some folk just don't realise. So, while 5% cut is welcome, we're still paying 57.95 pence per litre on fuel duty and on top of that there's another 20% VAT which pushes the consumer price of fuel up by offset and taxed to increase the wholesale profit. The UK Government holds levers to change this but as yet hasn't. As a member of the NSET committee of course I support a move away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives, however I acknowledge that getting a hybrid or electric car is not an option for Abaddy. Folks still rely on their petrol and diesel cars to get to and from work to see their family to get the shopping to carry out their caring responsibilities for a whole raft of other reasons and while diesel and petrol vehicles are still essential folk need to be supported and not penalised for using them. So how can this be achieved to implement tangible and urgent support to bring down fuel and indeed other soaring costs? We must extend the windfall tax increase the percentage of tax but crucially we must also address the loophole that undermines the levy by enabling companies to pay a minimum by offset and profits to investments. It was reported on Thursday last week that the UK Government is currently considering an extension to UK windfall tax from the current rate of 25% to 30% until 2028. It is understood that this could raise around £40 billion of additional UK Government revenue over a five-year period with the possibility of the scheme being expanded to cover city generation firms. This isn't just a good suggestion in my view it is crucial and a no-brainer. Fundamentally, as the Tory-made cost of living crisis ravages households across the country the UK Government must look at ways of supporting folk financially not constructing more barriers and taking money out of their pockets. The UK Government holds the levers to address many of the issues we are debating today and it could help the most vulnerable including my constituents of Aberdeen Donside and it could bring real change. Yet we are seeing little action in a talking shop from UK ministers only. In Scotland the SNP Scottish Government has taken the steps it can to help families affected but it shouldn't have to mitigate the damage in Tory austerity nor should it affect its tackling poverty be dragged backwards. With the full powers of independence the Scottish Government can get on the job of supporting Scottish folk through the tough times without the need to continually clean up after the Tories and their dangerous attempts to turn their backs on the most vulnerable folk by refusing to properly deal with the cost of living crisis. Thank you Mr Dunbar. I think you may have strayed away from the topic of the member's debate this evening a little at times there but anyway Paul O'Cain the final speaker in the open debate Thank you following Jackie Dunbar and her revelation about her previous life in a petrol station I look forward to those stories of who she met in the Four Courts in future but I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to this important debate this evening and grateful to Stuart McMillan indeed for securing cross-party support to bring such an important issue to the chamber. Indeed it's an issue that has been increasing in public awareness and concerned for quite some time in businesses and community organisations across Inverclyde as I think we've heard already. Inverclyde Council I think has also been vocal and critical of the great disparity in petrol prices in Inverclyde between Inverclyde and other areas of Scotland since the issue first arose indeed I had a conversation with my colleague councillor Martin McCluskey who represents Gwrwch and he has been working to shine a light on this important issue which affects not just his constituents in Gwrwch but across Inverclyde. Indeed his efforts have included as many of us have done writing to the competition and markets authority about that proposed road fuel market study but councillor McCluskey and others have suggested that there has to be a more robust analysis of the issue at the local level because in the correspondence with the CMA he's urged them to expand their investigation against that kind of beyond that rural urban divide of petrol prices by pointing out that Inverclyde fell neatly into the category of being exclusively rural or exclusively urban and indeed that Inverclyde should be considered on its own merits I think as a potential case study because the area has been at the sharp end of those higher fuel prices for years and as I say doesn't neatly fit within some of the criteria I mean I would echo those calls again this evening and ask the government to urge the CMA to act in that regard also because the current situation is unfair and unsustainable there is no valid justification as to why people in Inverclyde are having to pay significantly more to fuel their cars than people across Scotland including their near neighbours in places like Renfrewshire I think as we've heard already tonight we all understand that there are international pressures which affect fuel prices but it does not explain why prices have risen quicker and remained higher at four courts across Inverclyde and I too have had the sort of response from the supermarkets that CMA Green mentioned about that local price comparison and competitiveness and to be honest it really doesn't cut the mustard I think in terms of trying to explain exactly what is going on it makes no sense that if someone from Greenock or Port Glasgow is having to drive 10 or 15 miles into Renfrewshire so they can fuel up their cars significantly less in Bishopton, Erskine or Paisley indeed I had a conversation just the other day with my office manager who lives in Port Glasgow and works in Paisley and tries to ensure that she only fills up the car in G. Indeed in the summer the average petrol was £1.85 per litre compared to £1.77 per litre in Renfrewshire and £1.74 a litre in East Renfrewshire it's an equivalent to almost a £5 tax every time you fill your car with petrol in Inverclyde and whilst it's encouraging that recent data has shown that a litre of petrol cost on average £1.65 which is 24 pence less than its peak in August it's clear that the prices are still far too high in Inverclyde and in Scotland with fuel costing 6 pence more per litre so we do have to ask ourselves how it can be justified that people filling up in Inverclyde are faced with the biggest bills in the country whilst as we've heard companies like BP report eye-watching and frankly a moral £7 billion profit for the quarter between April and June and I would agree with what Stuart McMillan said also I think about the profits of supermarkets within that and their duty to act in this space also because faced with growing energy bills rising food prices and stagnant wages people in Inverclyde should not be faced with an extra fuel tax for filling up their car at the forecourt which is closest to home in the midst of the cost of living crisis multinational companies should be doing whatever they can to support people not ripping them off based on where they live the postcode lottery of fuel costs is simply ridiculous in coming to a close it is important to state that tonight and this entire argument is not about party politics it must be about the people of Inverclyde therefore it is incumbent upon all of us as Inverclyde's elected representatives to work together to get to the bottom of why these fuel prices are so high and bring about the action that will see the fuel prices reduce and deliver a fair deal for Inverclyde, thank you thank you Mr O'Kane I now call on the minister to respond to the debate for around seven minutes Presiding Officer let me begin by commending Stuart McMillan welcoming for bringing this debate to Parliament fuel costs are a critical issue and it is right that we spend time in this Parliament to debate the impacts they are having on thousands of individuals families, businesses and communities in Inverclyde and indeed as we have heard in many other parts of Scotland and I also want to commend Stuart McMillan for his fair fuel campaign which has sought to reduce inequalities in the market and increase the transparency of fuel prices faced by his constituents in that context I want to join colleagues in welcoming the competition and market authorities decision to undertake a market study on the road fuel market in the United Kingdom the Scottish Government has indicated this formally and I want to assure colleagues that we have asked to be kept informed particularly on matters relating to Scottish interests and I can also confirm to colleagues in Parliament that Scottish Government and Transport Scotland officials have been in touch with the CMA offering their services where required the competition and market authorities initial findings published in July found that the main cause of the rising price of fuel included increased crude oil prices of the worsening pound to dollar exchange rate and an increase in the margin between wholesale and retailers that we have Stuart McMillan I thank the minister for taking the intervention and certainly I have read that particular document and what the CMA have suggested however my one point I would highlight to the CMA is that if those aspects were accurate then the petrol prices across all fuel courts would be similar to what Inverclyde actually has being an outlier far more expensive and being ripped off as compared to other parts of Scotland I think the member makes a very powerful point with regards to the variation in the retail spread and I think that is something that will be recognised and I very much hope is part of the CMA's consideration I also want to say we know that we have to end our societies reliance on fossil fuels to secure our future and this government is already supporting the just transition needed from production of oil and gas to renewable resources but until we get there there is a dichotomy between the value of production in Scotland's economy and the price we pay at the fuel pumps for heating fuels and also for goods and services which are dependent on being shipped and transported across Scotland the current situation is entirely unfair for people in Inverclyde and for people across Scotland and it has unfortunately been exacerbated by political decisions particularly those which have had a material impact on the depreciation of the pound against the dollar namely Brexit and indeed the recent volatility following in the wake of the mini-budget notwithstanding this backdrop the initial findings of the competition in Marcus Authority are welcome particularly if its work eventually leads to fairer outcomes for Scottish interests they found out that the retail market seemed to be competitive although they acknowledged that the gap between retail and wholesale prices was volatile they stated that they would further investigate the retail market including the issue of whether disparities between local areas were justified the Scottish Government has raised inconsistent pricing in between urban and rural areas and in particular areas of Scotland such as Inverclyde with the competition and markets authority is a key issue for the investigation hopefully the authority has acknowledged that the reasons for local variations and fuel prices are amongst the issues that they are considering the market study will also investigate the relationship between the wholesale and retail prices of fuel and will look at the role of supermarkets in the retail fuel market we understand that the competition and markets authority will publish a report updating their initial findings shortly however the final conclusion of their study and recommendations for the UK Government will not be published until next year and while I acknowledge that the authority needs to be allowed to do its work we cannot wait that length of time over a winter with huge cost pressures on household finances we expect the UK Government to take appropriate actions to implement the recommendations of the market study once it is published however that should not preclude the UK Government from taking action now to help to protect households and businesses from the high impact of high fuel prices as highlighted by the UK Government that holds powers that can directly influence road fuel costs including VAT taxation of windfall profits and regulation of the energy market for example as it for November 49% of the cost of petrol per litre at the pumps was made up of fuel duty and VAT it should be noted that the main policy lever to disincentivise car use is reserved to the UK Government despite approaches from Scottish ministers no meaningful dialogue on this issue has been forthcoming the UK Government have acknowledged in their net zero review that as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxis based on them structural changes to our tax system will be required despite seeking engagement at both ministerial and official level on this issue yet to give the devolved nations clarity on weather and if so when it plans to replace motoring taxis the Scottish Government welcomed the temporary 5p reduction in fuel duty when it was announced earlier this year but I have to say this feels like a missed opportunity to target support at increasing incomes rather than cutting costs we have been clear in our communication with the UK Government that any new support should be funded and enhanced windfall tax targeting the excess profits being made in the energy sector rather than passing all of the cost to households through even higher borrowing our programme for government sets out the Scottish Government's immediate response to the cost of living crisis as well as outlining our ambition to create a better future in the longer term within a limited budget and the restrictions of the evolution we have provided significant support for families and the most vulnerable which will also indirectly support communities and local businesses by April 2023 we will have invested around £3 billion in a range of measures for households supporting energy bills childcare health, social security and travel for business we have a package of rates relief worth over £800 million and have established a joint task force with business organisations, local authorities and agencies to consider the differing impacts of regulation on businesses and extending energy advice to businesses we continue to do all we can to ensure people, communities and businesses are given as much support as possible to deal with the rising cost of living and moving to conclude I want to acknowledge that as has been touched on by other members it may seem somewhat incongruous to be waiting and arguing for fairer treatment for people in Inverclyde and elsewhere in Scotland over fuel prices for vehicle use during COP 27 but this debate highlights why we need things to be different in the future the recent rises in the cost of motoring underline the unfairness of the current regressive motoring tax regime the Scottish Government wants a fair and progressive future transport system reduces unnecessary journeys raises revenues to fund public to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel and better incentivise the transition to zero-emission vehicles for those who need them until such times as the relevant powers are exercised by this Parliament we will continue to urge the UK Government to use the Labour's at their disposal to address the gaps in support for the people and businesses of Scotland in the meantime I can assure members that we are doing everything we can to grow and transform our economy to deliver a fairer greener country for people in Inverclyde and for people across Scotland Thank you Minister on reviewing the text of the motion I may have done a disservice to Jackie Dunbar earlier for which I apologise that concludes the debate and I close this meeting of Parliament