With projections that the cost of living crunch will continue, Labour today urge the government to rule out a fuel duty rise at the next Budget if OBR projections show it’s affordable.
If there is additional headroom in the upcoming Budget, the party is calling for it to go towards the cost of living crisis as a priority, starting by ensuring that fuel duty will not rise in the Budget.
If the government don’t act, Labour says, 12p would be added to price of a litre of petrol.
This would be the biggest increase in petrol prices on record (beating the previous record in June 2022 when petrol rose by 7.54p in a single week). Petrol prices remain at historic highs, with figures showing that unleaded petrol prices are still a third higher than in 2020.
And they claim that with Britain’s public transport system decimated by years of Tory mistakes, many households rely on their cars to get to work. With thousands of businesses facing new challenges after a withdrawal of government support, another big rise in petrol will have a knock on impact on an already weakened economy, Labour says.
It comes after one of the most volatile years for petrol prices on record, and growing concerns that even when prices dropped, they weren’t being properly passed on to consumers, as the numbers on petrol forecourts remained high.
The party revealed that between mid-June and the latest data referring to mid-November, the price of crude oil acquired by refineries fell by 19%.
But despite that, the price of unleaded petrol only fell by just 10% over that period – with the price of diesel only dropping by 1%. Labour today say the government must act to end the dither and delay with making sure price falls make their way to motorists.
Labour’s pressure comes ahead of a Budget where cost of living and higher bills will continue to plague households.
The party is also highlighting the need for more than just taxpayer funded sticking plasters in the long-term, as motorists are exposed to volatile petrol prices due to 13 years of failure on public transport and the transition to clean vehicles.
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor said:
“Many families will be asking themselves whether they feel better off under the Tories, or whether anything is working better now than it did 13 years ago.
“The answer will be no. With so many families and businesses reliant on their cars, the government must rule out yet another fuel duty rise at the Budget to ease some of those pressures and prevent yet another shock to our economy.
“But we must move beyond these sticking plasters, and stop the dither and delay in passing on any dips in prices on to motorists.
“Britain cannot keep lurching from crisis to crisis. With Labour’s plan to boost energy security we will lower bills, tackle the climate crisis, get our economy growing and get living standards up.”
