Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP calls on the Prime Minister to convene a high-level meeting with the heads of the leading gas and oil companies to encourage a voluntary reduction in wholesale prices.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)
11. Rather than a compulsory windfall tax so favoured by the Opposition, will my right hon. Friend take an alternative view: summon a high-level meeting with the oil and gas companies with the aim of a voluntary agreement to bring more oil and gas on to the wholesale market to reduce oil and gas prices to help hard-pressed people deal with the cost of living problems? (905543)
The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)
I thank my hon. Friend for that suggestion, which is both interesting and ingenious. The oil and gas companies create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the UK, and they are very important to our economy. I will do what I can to take forward his request for a meeting with them, but I remind him and the House that we have frozen fuel duty for 12 years in a row, saving people £15 in the cost of filling up their tanks, compared with 2010.