Milking the motorist

EVERY time we fill up a family car, we hand the Treasury around £50 in fuel duty and VAT. Yet Chancellor Philip Hammond now hints he may end the eight-year freeze on duty so that he can grab even more.

Yes, cash must be found to ease the growing crises in the NHS and social care. But few taxes hit the wider economy harder than fuel duty, which cuts into families’ spending power while raising the prices of all goods transported by road.

Stifling growth will hurt everyone – including our hard-pressed public services. The Chancellor must think again.