London, UK: Fuel duty could rise by as much as 10p per litre soon as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to reveal a “painful” Budget to fill a £22bn black hole.
The RAC issued a warning that Reeves might have no option but to raise fuel duty by 5p per litre in October’s Budget. A 5p per litre cut in fuel duty was introduced by the Conservative government in March 2022 while, before this, the levy had been frozen at 57.95p since March 2011.
Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, said: ‘We’ve reached the conclusion the Chancellor has no option but to put fuel duty back up to 58p a litre in October’s Budget. We think replacing fuel duty with a pay-per-mile system as soon as possible is the way forward as then the only tax levied on fuel would be VAT. This would give retailers nowhere to hide.”
The RAC believes average prices should be lowered from 147p per litre to 139p per litre for diesel.
Howard Cox, the founder of campaign group FairFuel UK, goes further and claims that the Treasury wants fuel duty to jump by 10p per litre.
“I have credible intelligence that the Treasury has virtually settled… on increasing fuel duty by 10p a litre,” said Cox.
‘I predict the net outcome from the October Budget is that the UK’s 37million drivers are set to be fleeced on a scale not seen since 1997 to 2010 when Labour increased fuel duty by a staggering 46 per cent.”
