EXCLUSIVE: A Labour minister has spoken about a possible fuel duty increase following the Budget.
Rachel Reeves announced a freeze in fuel duty in her Budget (Image: Getty)
A Labour minister has refused to rule out an increase in fuel duty in the coming years. Rachel Reeves confirmed in her Budget that the levy will be frozen again for five months until September 2026. Rates will then gradually return to March 2022 levels by March 2027. The planned increase in line with inflation for 2026-27 will also be cancelled, the Chancellor confirmed. But when asked by The Express if he foresaw the duty remaining low, or if an increase was an inevitability, Labour’s roads and buses minister Simon Lightwood MP said: “You’re asking me to speculate way into future years here.”
He then repeated what Ms Reeves said on November 26. When questioned again on whether there is a possibility that the levy could be increased beyond that, Mr Lightwood said: “You’re asking me to speculate on future Budgets, and I think I’ll leave that for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make those decisions.”
Drivers pay a levy at the pump (Image: Getty)
Reacting to what the minister had to say, motoring campaigner and founder of FairFuelUK, which advocates against an increase in the duty, Howard Cox, claimed that without his lobbying, the levy would have been increased.
He said: “I was informed by a very credible source in the Treasury that fuel duty was definitely to increase by 5p in the Budget, but was reversed because of pressure from Labour MPs lobbied by thousands of FairFuelUK supporters to keep it frozen.
“I was the only campaigner that predicted Reeves would keep it frozen.
“And that was down to FairFuelUK’s 15th year proving that hiking this regressive tax would inhibit economic growth.”
Howard Cox is the founder of FairFuelUK (Image: Getty)
He added: “There is no doubt Sunak’s temporary 5p cut will be reversed in September 2026, alongside bringing back the much-hated fuel price escalator.
“I hear a total of 7p + VAT is in their fiscal modelling plans for the next Budget. Meaning an 8 to 9p per litre hit on every fill up.
“This myopic tax-raising idiocy will be political suicide, inflationary, and cost businesses millions, risking an increase in insolvencies.”
