Graeme Downie

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I will come on shortly to the action the Government are taking and where I think there is still more to be done. The impact goes beyond personal strain; it creates an uneven playing field for businesses, hindering economic growth by harming small business owners in Dunfermline who rely on vehicles for operation. In this Budget the Government have taken a wide range of steps to help working people across the country, including in my constituency: a wage rise for 200,000 Scots, record funding to Scotland, fixing the mineworkers’ pension scheme, protecting the pensions triple lock and, as I have said, committing funds to maintain the freeze on fuel duty that the Conservatives failed to do and which would otherwise have seen people like my constituent Aimee paying even more for fuel. I am also pleased that this new Government have confirmed that they will implement two of the CMA’s recommendations: an open data scheme called fuel finder that will require all fuel retailers to share their prices in real time, and a road fuels monitoring function that will report on the state of competition in the road fuel market. Scenario modelling by the CMA suggests that pump prices could reduce by between 1p and 6p a litre as a result of these measures, helping to ensure that drivers get a fair deal for fuel across the UK. I am keen to hear from the Minister what more she thinks the Government can do specifically around ensuring a fair and functional fuel market, so that pricing is fair and not allowed to cluster into local price-fixing, as seen in Dunfermline. Fuel prices are undoubtedly subject to a range of external factors, as we have seen over the years, but by increasing transparency and ensuring real competition between forecourts, we can have a functioning market where competition helps drive down prices. However, nothing is preventing fuel retailers from choosing to do the right thing right now and to stabilise fuel prices, to remove price clusters like we see in Dunfermline and to ensure that people such as Aimee are not financially penalised for where they live. I hope this Government will build on the excellent start they have made to protect working people and small businesses, and I hope we will be able to do more to stop fuel retailers profiteering on the back of hard-working people up and down the country.