FUEL SMUGGLING IN NORTHERN IRELAND

That this House notes that the Northern Ireland Justice Minister estimated in 2011 that there is an annual tax loss of 200 million from fuel fraud and cross-border fuel shopping in Northern Ireland; further notes that some estimates have put the loss even higher, at between 280 million to 300 million a year; believes that this theft pushes up fuel taxes for every resident of the British Isles, which is deeply unfair; welcomes the Government's action with HM Revenue and Customs and the Organised Crime Task Force, together with members of the Democratic Unionist Party to crack down on fuel smuggling and laundering; and therefore calls on the Government to go further, and to look at extending rural fuel pilots to the new economic zones.