Rachel Reeves is set to hike fuel duty by up to 7p a litre at the upcoming Budget.

The Chancellor will reportedly end the temporary 5p cut and add a further 2p on top of that.

A Whitehall source told the Daily Mail: “Ms Reeves’s officials are telling her it’s now or never on fuel duty.

“The Treasury always hated the fuel duty freeze and is determined to get rid of it.

“They are advising her that motorists can afford it and that if she doesn’t act to end the freeze now she will find it much harder to do so later in the Parliament.”

A 7p rise in fuel duty would add £3.85 to the cost of filling up an average family car in a move that risks undermining Labour’s claim that it will not raise taxes for working people.

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: “All the fiscal mood music coming out of the Treasury points to Sunak’s 2022 unexpected 5p Budget cut in fuel duty being eagerly reversed on Oct 30 by this anti-motorist Government. It now seems 7p has been chosen arbitrarily.

“The last time Labour were in power under Blair and Brown this regressive tax increased by 46% so punishing drivers is in Labour’s DNA.

“But the bigger worry with economically naive Rachel Reeves is the spectre of the fuel price escalator returning.

“And even worse is a pay-per-mile fuel tax replacement just around the corner too. Sadly the UK’s 37 million drivers are set to be punished hard at the despatch box.”

It would be the first time fuel duty has been hiked in 14 years after successive Tory chancellors blocked it every year.

The Chancellor is looking to raise up to £40 billion mainly from tax hikes in the Budget on October 30.

A Treasury spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation around tax changes outside of fiscal events.”