I was very pleased recently to get a few moments with William Hague (pictured reading the Scunthorpe Telegraph) to talk to him about our campaign in Brigg and Goole. I have been fortunate in the last few weeks to bump into a number of Shadow Cabinet Members on the campaign trail.

I have told them all just how many people locally are complaining about Labour's failure to deal with the rising cost of living. I have also asked them to do everything they can to put as much pressure as possible on the Government to renew the contract for the Post Office Card Account. That contract is vital to the future survival of our Post Offices.

All of the Shadow Ministers I met were really interested to hear what is concerning people in Brigg and Goole. In fact a few of them have offered to visit in the coming months and we look forward to welcoming them back to the area.

Over the last two weekends I have also been at the Winterton and Howden Shows where we had stalls. I was really surprised by just how many people came over wanting to talk to me, with many offering their support for the next election. More than one person who came over said they had never voted Conservative but they would be doing next time. It's a long time to the next election, but judging by the response of people at the moment, its not looking good for Labour!

Prospective Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy has launched a petition against Government proposals to raise vehicle excise duty on cars yet further. The petition has been available to sign at the Winterton Show and at the Howden Show (see photo), where Andrew and David Davis MP shared a stall.

Andrew explains, “This Government has raised taxes related to driving by 50% since coming to power in 1997. They are now proposing to increase Vehicle Excise Duty at a time when drivers are already paying through the nose by way of increase fuel prices. We now know that 9.4 million drivers will be worse off as a result of the car tax increase, including some of the poorest families in the country who will now be anything up to £245 worse off per year. An average family will be £80 per year worse off, at a time when the price of food is also rising.

The VED tax will be retrospective – so any car bought after 2002 will be hit by the higher tax rates. This will lead in turn to a plummeting re-sale price for second-hand cars.

The situation with fuel duty is even worse which is why the Conservatives have proposed a ‘Fair Fuel Stabiliser’ which would reduce fuel duty when oil prices go up and raise duty when prices go down. At the moment the Government is creaming in much more in fuel duty than it expected to due to the higher oil prices. If a Fair Fuel Stabiliser had been introduced at the 2008 Budget, fuel would now be 5p per litre cheaper, shaving £3.50 off a tank of fuel for a Ford Mondeo.

We need to send a strong message to the Government that we can’t take anymore increases in taxes. Families are already struggling and so these increases should be scrapped.”

Update: Alistair Darling has now annouced that the 2p increase in duty scheduled for the Autumn will not now go ahead. Andrew comments, "It's a shame it took the Government so long to make their mind up on this issue despite warnings for months that motorists could not take another hit. Whilst I welcome the move, the fact still remains that the high price of oil means that the Government is still taking much more off us in fuel duty than predicted."

Sign the petition here