Fuel duty STAYS FROZEN in victory for Sun’s campaign and relief for millions of drivers
FUEL duty has been frozen for a 15th historic year in a massive win for drivers and The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign.
The Chancellor used today’s Budget to stop petrol and diesel prices rising with inflation.
And in a huge boost for cash-strapped Brits, Rachel Reeves confirmed the temporary 5p cut will also remain in place.
Ms Reeves said: “The budget I inherited assumes that fuel duty will rise by RPI next year, and that the temporary 5p cut will be reversed.
“Keeping the 5p cut and freezing fuel duty would cost over £3 billion next year.
“Given the challenging fiscal position, I must be frank with the House—this is a significant commitment.
“In these tough times, with high living costs and global uncertainty, increasing fuel duty next year would be the wrong choice for working people. It would mean a 7p per litre rise in fuel duty.
“So, I have decided to freeze fuel duty next year and maintain the existing 5p cut for another year.”
The Chancellor declared: “There will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year.”
Motorists have enjoyed frozen rates since 2011 thanks to our campaign with FairFuelUK to protect people at the pump.
WATCH RACHEL REEVES ON NEVER MIND THE BALLOTS
By Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor
RACHEL Reeves will be grilled in a special Budget edition of The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show today.
Our Political Editor Harry Cole will put the Chancellor on the spot shortly after she’s finished delivering her crucial address in the House of Commons.
It will be available to watch on thesun.co.uk, YouTube and Sun social channels at 5.30pm.
Topics will include her decision on whether to spare motorists a fuel duty rise, and the expected eye-watering tax rises she will impose.
Since its launch earlier this year, NMTB has cemented its place at the heart of British politics.
During the General Election campaign The Sun was the only print publisher to host back-to-back grillings of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
Footage from The Election Showdown has been viewed over 15 million times.
NMTB has also featured interviews with ex-PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as well as senior politicians Nigel Farage, James Cleverly, Wes Streeting, Steve Reed and Bridget Phillipson
If the duty had been allowed to rise in line with inflation since 2010, Britain’s drivers would now be paying 93.47p on a litre of fuel rather than the current 52.95p once VAT is included.
Fears had been mounting the Chancellor could increase fuel duty by as much as 7p to help fill a £40bn black hole in the country’s finances.
But dozens of Tory MPs wrote to Ms Reeves to say it would crush working families and small businesses already drowning under rising costs.
And FairFuelUK founder Howard Cox and Tory MP Saqib Bhatti marched to No10 to deliver a petition on the matter signed by 131,000 drivers.
Mr Cox welcomed today’s news, saying: “I am delighted that Rachel Reeves has listened to FairFuelUK supporters, her party MPs’ constituents, and the Sun.
“Keeping Fuel Duty frozen is at the core of Labour’s laudable journey to economic growth.”
Mr Cox previously said there was no excuse for targeting drivers in the Budget when duty accounts for 60 per cent of pump prices.
The Sun's 14-year campaign to freeze fuel duty
The Sun has backed drivers as part of the Keep It Down campaign with rates of fuel duty not rising since the start of 2011.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt earlier this year thanked Sun readers for helping him to make the case to freeze fuel duty in his last Budget.
The freeze meant drivers would not have to face a potential £100 rise in motoring costs as a result of a 12p per litre duty hike.
Our decade-long campaign fights on behalf of readers to freeze duty on petrol and diesel to help deal with rising living costs.
Mr Hunt said: “I know how much Sun readers are feeling the pinch right now.
“Whether you drive a van, a hatchback or a people carrier I know how much you need to be on the road.
“Keeping it down means hard-working people will have an extra £100 this year without having to cut down using their vehicle.”
Businesses only pay 25 per cent tax on profits.
Chief Executive of GB Railfreight John Smith also said: “The Chancellor’s decision to extend the fuel duty freeze will be a welcome announcement to households up and down the country. “
Graham Stringer last week became the first Labour MP to back our crusade to freeze fuel duty.
Mr Stringer, the MP for Blackley and Middleton South said: “It would be a mistake to put fuel duty up.
“It would impact the economy. If we want to improve productivity which we do, hiking fuel is not the way to do it as it would hit businesses and the cost of doing business.”
In a special Never Mind The Ballots episode on fuel duty, Mr Cox also said increasing fuel duty would breach Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise taxes on working people.
He said: “Something like 70 per cent of people drive, 37 million drivers need their car.
“They have got no choice, especially in rural areas and suburban areas.
“We have got a situation where corporation taxes are 25 per cent, income tax, the highest at 40 per cent, and fuel duty is 60 per cent so why put it up even more.”