The UK Chancellor, Mr George Osborne has confirmed that the planned 2014 fuel duty increase will be scrapped. The news, revealed in his Autumn Statement could save motorists 20p on every litre of petrol compared to the rises planned under Labour’s hated “fuel duty escalator”.
The scrapping of the planned rise will see duty remain at 57.95p per litre of fuel.
Motoring groups welcomed the news. Head of public affairs for the AA, Paul Watters said, “Cancelling fuel duty next year tells drivers that the Government is trying to help offset some of the impact of highly volatile pump prices over the past two years. At the pump, a 2p-a-litre increase would have been equivalent to a £1 a tank increase for small cars and £1.40 for Mondeo family. Pump prices that have shot up 8p to 10p a litre on occasions during 2012 and 2013 have sapped drivers ability to get by.”
The costs of the governments scrapping of futy duty as said to have cost the government in excess of £22 billion in lost revenue over the life of this Parliament. Mr Obourne claimed that this was a “demonstration that we’re on the side of hard working people in this country.”
This news is likely to go down well with hard up motorists, however its easy to forget that nearly 60% of the price you pay at the pump is made up of fuel duty and VAT. At today’s prices that over 80 pence per litre.
For more information on fuel duty then see the following page on the Gov website https://www.gov.uk/fuel-duty
[ad]
