Petrol discount “discriminates against Lanzarote and Fuerteventura”

The Nueva Canarias /Canarian Block (NC) party have angrily denounced the Canarian Government’s decision to apply a 20-cent discount on every litre of petrol to the “green islands” of La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma, a policy which will come into effect today and is likely to last until the end of the year.

“People on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura will wake up this week poorer than other Canarians,” said Yoné Caraballo of the NC, claiming that the decision showed “discrimination” against the “yellow islands” of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Caraballo claimed that the inhabitants of the “yellow” eastern islands have “the most expensive average shopping basket; the most expensive fuel; more expensive water and electricity; and the most expensive housing. And this impoverishment increases thanks to policies that discriminate according to the weight you have in the Government of the Canary Islands.”

The comment refers to the La Gomera Socialist Group (ASG), a local party whose three seats in the Canarian Government allowed the Coalicion Canaria and Partido Popular to form a ruling coalition last June.

Caraballo said, “Now that the ban on discrimination has been lifted, can we expect to see income tax on the green islands reduced by 60%, as the ASG President has proposed recently?”