27 June 2012
the Chancellor George Osborne has frozen fuel duty until the end of the year
In a surprise announcement on Tuesday (26 June) the Chancellor George Osborne has frozen fuel duty until the end of the year.
The 3p rise announced in this year's budget and planned for August will not now be introduced until January next year.
Deferring the 3.02p-a-litre increase in fuel duty from August until next year will spare a two-car family from a £6.41-a-month leap in petrol costs, says the AA, responding to the Chancellor’s announcement this afternoon.
A duty increase at the same time as the Olympics would have cast a shadow over the UK
Edmund King, AA president
“This is great news for all motorists as drivers will breathe an enormous sigh of relief with summer holidays about to take off. And a duty increase at the same time as the Olympics would have cast a shadow over the UK,” says Edmund King, the AA’s president.
What we now need more than ever is fuel price transparency to make absolutely sure these benefits are passed on to drivers in their entirety.
Today’s announcement and Justine Greening’s call for fuel price transparency has placed this government at the forefront of looking out for the interests of drivers, business and families.
Earlier this month we asked nearly 20,000 members of the AA/Populus panel for their views on the planned duty rise:
With fuel prices coming down over the last two months and Britain trying to reduce the budget deficit, do you agree or disagree that the Chancellor should press ahead with the planned fuel duty increase?
83% of AA members disagreed that the Chancellor should press ahead with the increase, with 73% strongly disagreeing.
Had it gone ahead then from petrol sales alone, the duty rise would have siphoned £1.6 million a day from consumer spending into the pump and knocked out a third of price cuts since the record highs in mid-April.
(27 June 2012)
