Fuel duty to stay frozen, and £200m for potholes

DRIVERS were given a double boost as the Chancellor froze fuel duty for a year and announced £200million more for fixing potholes.

Jeremy Hunt said he would extend the 5p fuel duty cut, introduced last March amid soaring pump prices, until April next year. He also abandoned an automatic fuel duty inflation rise, meaning the levy on both petrol and diesel will remain at 52.95p a litre.

The two tax giveaways will save drivers around £6billion collectively and slash £100 from the average motorist’s fuel bill over the next year.

In another boost, Mr Hunt said £200million will be released to English councils in the coming weeks to tackle ‘the curse of potholes’. It will help fill in up to four million holes on rural, residential and smaller C and B roads and is a victory for the Daily Mail’s campaign to end the pothole plague.

Mr Hunt said he felt compelled to act after MPs lobbied him for money to fix roads in their constituencies after a ‘wet then cold winter’ caused more craters.

Former home secretary Priti Patel said the fuel duty move would curb inflation and stimulate economic growth. She added: ‘Freezing fuel duty will save businesses thousands of pounds a year and help families every time they fill up their cars.’

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: ‘It would be churlish not to warmly thank Mr Hunt for today’s welcome news, even though drivers actually wanted a cut in this regressive tax. Today’s announcement will be received very well by motorists, small businesses, lowincome families and truckers.’

AA spokesman Jack Cousens said: ‘Not only will this save drivers heavy-duty pain at the pump, but it will help keep the price of goods and services down as they are mainly transported by road.’