Tractor runs and HMRC

That this House recognises and welcomes the Tractor Runs organised by farmers in rural communities throughout the country around the Christmas and New Year period; congratulates all those taking part for their creativity and the good cheer that they brought to many people during the darkest period of the year; further welcomes the money raised for charities by these events; notes in particular the achievement of the organisers of the Orkney Tractor Run in raising more than £44,000 for CLAN Cancer Support Orkney and Kirkwall Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre; is dismayed that HM Revenue and Customs are reported to be insisting that, in the future, participants in such events will be obliged to use white diesel with full duty being paid on it instead of the agricultural red diesel on which agricultural vehicles normally are fuelled; and calls on HMRC to classify Tractor Runs as an agricultural activity so that they may continue to bring much needed cheer to farming communities in the depths of winter.