LONDON: The British government will cancel a planned fuel duty rise for the seventh successive year, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday. His predecessor George Osborne cut fuel duty - which is paid on petrol, diesel and other fuels used in vehicles and for heating - in March 2011 and the rate has been frozen since.
The significant fall in global oil prices had pushed down forecourt prices and led to speculation that taxes could rise earlier in the year but since then prices have crept up partly due to the fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote.
The pound has fallen by around 15 percent against the dollar since the June 23 referendum, pushing up the cost of importing goods and materials.
The average price of petrol at the pump stands at 115 pence, one of the highest levels in the European Union, and steadily rising from a recent low of just over 100 pence in March, according to data from motoring lobby group the RAC.
"Today we stand on the side of the millions of hardworking people in our country by cancelling the fuel duty rise for the seventh successive year," Hammond told parliament, giving his first budget update since taking on the role in July.
Hammond said this would save the average car driver 130 pounds a year, and an average van driver 350 pounds.
The price of fuel remains a sensitive topic in Britain where lorry drivers, angry at the price of fuel, blockaded refineries in 2000, bringing the country to a halt and forcing many forecourts to shut and others to introduce rationing.
Fuel duty was last increased by 0.76p per litre on January 1 2011 but was then cut a few months later by Osborne faced with growing pressure from motorists angry at rising prices less than a year into then Conservative-led coalition government's tenure.
In March 2011, the average price of a litre of unleaded petrol was 134 pence.
Fuel duty currently stands at 57.95 pence per litre and consumers also pay value added tax as well of 20 percent on most fuel, or 5 percent on fuel for heating homes, meaning that more than half the price paid by the British consumer is tax.
Consumers pay the highest diesel price in Europe according to European Union data and one of the highest petrol prices.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.