Tuesday 26 June 2012

Treasury postpones fuel duty rise

The Treasury is postponing a planned fuel duty rise in August after pressure from Labour.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls this morning called on George Osborne to use a £500 million “windfall” left over from the Olympics budget to lighten the load on British drivers.

This afternoon the Chancellor announced the rise of 3p a litre will be delayed until January 2013 to help with the cost of living.

It follows a concerted campaign from more than 50 MPs and campaign group Fair Fuel UK which called for the rise to be scrapped.

Road groups welcomed the Chancellor’s “pain relief measure”, with the Road Haulage Association stating it was “delighted”.

Jack Semple, RHA Director of Policy said: "Today’s announcement will prevent further pressure being applied to the profitability and cash flow of UK hauliers in particular. The duty increase would have added £1,200 a year to the cost of running a truck.”

Peter Carroll, founder of FairFuelUK added: “There are serious longer term issues to address on fuel taxation and pricing – but for today, we thank the Government for listening and acting.”

Fuel prices have dropped recently, with oil costs reaching an 18-month low last week.