THE Treasury is continuing to review duty on liquefied petroleum gas as part of the Government's drive to encourage cleaner emission vehicles. In the run up to Tuesday's Budget, Patricia Hewitt, economic secretary to the Treasury, confirmed that the issue of duty on LPG, petrol and diesel is far from over.

'We are looking at how fiscal incentives can incentivise a switch to smaller, cleaner, less polluting vehicles. Obviously that includes vehicles that use a completely different power source,' she told the Environmental Audit Committee. The EAC urged the Government: 'To set out its intentions on future rates of duty on road fuel gases in the forthcoming Budget.'

Duty on LPG in the UK is almost double the rate in the next highest European Union country, and there is no tax on LPG in Sweden and Belgium. But Hewitt refused to commit the Government to the suggestion of Tim Houghton MP (Con. Worthing East and Shoreham), that: 'What we need to see is a five-year-plus commitment with perhaps some tax credit at the beginning.'