... but the AA doom-mongers claim petrol price will soar

THE aa has been branded a ‘doom merchant’ for claiming petrol prices would soar by £500 a year per family if Britain leaves the EU.

the motoring group joined the Europe debate by saying costs at the pumps could rise by 18.7p a litre ‘within days’ of a Brexit vote.

In a ‘worst case scenario’, they claimed the value of the pound could tumble by 20 per cent if Britain goes it alone, at the same time as oil prices – which are at a long-term low – could treble.

aa president Edmund King said the group does not ‘take a view as to whether the UK should leave the EU’ but merely wanted to highlight a potentially ‘significant hike’ in petrol prices. But other experts, including the RaC, cast doubt on the figures, saying there was little reason to think prices would change dramatically even if the pound did fall in value.

Britain has some of the highest prices at the pump in Europe because taxes – Vat and fuel duty – makes up more than 70 per cent of the cost of a litre.

Howard Cox, founder of F airFuelUK which campaigns for lower tax on pet - rol prices, said the aa was engaging in ‘ill-informed exaggerations to scare drivers about Brexit’.

He added: ‘Despite the UK already having the most punitive fuel duty levels in the EU , any thought that pump prices would rise further if Brexit became a reality is a red her

- ring. Being in or out of the EU should not be a factor for fairer pump pricing and lower fuel taxation on 37million UK drivers.

‘If the pound does not crash, contrary to the pro-EU doom merchants predicting will happen, and oil remains low due to over production, then it will still be down to George Osborne as to what we pay at the pumps.’

simon W illiams, of the RaC, said motorists are seeing petrol and diesel under £1 at the cheapest retailers, and prices could remain low. He added: ‘the impact on fuel prices of Britain exiting is not likely to be as dramatic as motorists might be led to think.’

the aa used figures from bank Goldman sachs which warn the pound could plummet if Britain leaves the EU.

their analysis suggests a 20 per cent drop in sterling value, plus three -fold hike in the oil price, would add an extra 6.2p to a litre of petrol.

For a family with two 55-litre tank cars, this would mean spending an extra £494 a year. Even without a rise in oil prices, they said the drop in value of the pound could lead to a £137-a-year rise.

Mr King said: ‘We don’t take a view as to whether the UK should leave the EU as that is up to the people to decide in a referendum.

‘However, even before the referendum vote, it seems that financial reports suggest leaving the European community could lead to a sharp fall in the value of the pound which in turn could hit pump prices within days.’

a spokesman for Vote Leave attacked the Goldman figures saying: ‘these are ludicrous claims based on the predictions by the same people who said the roof would fall in on the economy if we didn’t join the euro.’

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