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The soaring price of fuel is causing problems for individuals and businesses in rural areas.

It's amazing to think that the fuel protests which brought Britain to a halt in 2000 took place when petrol prices reached the dizzy height of 80p per litre.

Despite the fact that prices now frequently top £1.30 a litre, there has been no real repeat of those protests.

But that does not mean there isn't growing concern and unhappiness about the cost of fuel.

That is particularly true in rural areas, where a lack of competition combined with a greater reliance on the car is causing pain.

Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and County Durham are among communities facing those twin problems.

And so the MP for Thirsk and Malton has gone into battle to ask for special help for constituents like hers who live and work in the countryside.

says businesses and farmers are struggling to survive in North Yorkshire because of the rising fuel costs.

: "Across North Yorkshire, farming is often the main business - it certainly is in my constituency - and the impact of rising fuel prices has been catastrophic.

"It has pushed up the cost of producing livestock and the cost of taking livestock to market."

The Conservative MP also argues fuel is a necessity for businesses and individuals in North Yorkshire, and not a luxury that can be easily cut back.

So what does she want?

She certainly wants to see the Government abandon April's planned 1p rise in fuel duty.

The MP also wants to see the Coalition look seriously at a to vary the rate of duty to take into account the price at the pumps.

Anne McIntosh believes people in North Yorkshire should get a discount on their fuel.

But Anne McIntosh also wants to see people in rural communities offered a discount on duty to help bring prices down.

She is not the only supporter of that idea. There were plenty of other rural MPs in Northern Ireland, Cornwall and Wales who backed her idea during a she asked for on the issue.

And in Cumbria, the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has also . Hardly surprising, since he drafted a discount proposal in the .

And it's not as impossible as it sounds.

The Government is looking at pilot projects to offer a discount of up to 5p per litre on the Scottish Islands and in the Scilly Isles to tackle exactly the same problem.

So far though there are no plans to test out the same idea in rural England. Anne McIntosh says she wants that changed to include places like North Yorkshire and Cornwall.

There is a problem though. The fuel discount will need EU approval.

The Government says it is having informal discussions with Brussels officials to ensure it can go ahead, but it will need the agreement of all 27 European states for it to happen.

Therefore, it is not imminent, even though similar discounts already exist on some Portugese and Greek islands.

And of course the more areas any discount covers, the bigger the loss of revenue to the Chancellor.

MPs in urban areas might also baulk at people in the countryside gaining an advantage. Labour representatives might also wonder about Coalition support for the recent rise in VAT, which pushed fuel prices up even further.

But the warning from Anne McIntosh and other rural representatives is that without action, businesses will close and individuals will suffer as fuel prices continue to rise.

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