"We've turned the corner with the package announced last week," said Geoff Dosseter, head of external affairs for the FTA in response to the raft of measures announced by the chancellor in last week's pre-budget speech. "We welcome all of the chancellor's proposals, although at present the details of many of them are not yet fully clear. The reductions in vehicle excise duty are particularly attractive, as is the 50 per cent back-dated rebate. Likewise, we are glad to see that as from next year there will be a 3p cut in fuel duty. Yes, we wanted 15p, but this is a significant step in the right direction. We are still a million miles away from the rest of Europe, but this represents a fundamental shift in government policy. Last year the scrapping of the fuel escalator was a massive achievement, but it was still only the cancelling of a plan for the future. With these announcements we are seeing a genuine change of direction, and we shall continue to encourage the government to go further." NFU president Ben Gill also welcomed many points in the speech, but expressed his fears that some farmers would still feel frustration that they had not been offered a larger cut in fuel taxes.