Cancel 12p-a-litre increase in fuel duty, Chancellor told

PRITI PATEL is leading a group of Tories calling for a fuel duty cut after the Chancellor left the door open to a potential rise.

The former home secretary and 22 fellow backbench MPS have written to Jeremy Hunt urging him to reduce fuel duty or at least commit to freezing it until the end of this parliament.

Yesterday, the Chancellor scrambled to reassure critics that the Government had yet to make a decision on the issue after he failed to mention it in his Autumn Statement.

Tory MPS are demanding an assurance that he will not go ahead with a planned rise, following a warning it would add 12p to the price of a litre of petrol or diesel.

The letter – signed by Brandon Lewis, the former Cabinet minister, and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, as well as the senior backbenchers Sir John Redwood and Sir William Cash – argues that diesel is the “commercial heartbeat of any economy”.

The group of MPS say that all British drivers are being “chronically punished by cripplingly and needlessly high fuel taxation and unchecked profiteering in the fuel supply chain”. They say prices

have reached “eye-watering levels”, with many hauliers and small businesses “struggling to stay afloat”.

“The levels of vehicle fuel prices – currently, petrol is averaging 165p, diesel 190p – are unsustainable in our pursuit of economic growth and reducing inflation,” the MPS add.

This week it emerged that drivers will be hit with a record rise in fuel duty that would add 12p to the price of a litre of petrol if the Government goes ahead with a planned increase next year.

The proposed 23 per cent increase pencilled in for 2023 will raise £5.7billion, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. If it were to be put in place today, this would push the average price of diesel to a record of more than £2 a litre. Unleaded would rise to £1.76 per litre.

Although fuel duty is meant to rise in line with inflation, the increase has been repeatedly cancelled by ministers to spare drivers from higher costs.

It is likely Mr Hunt will continue with the policy to freeze fuel duty at current levels, but yesterday he insisted that the Government had not made a decision.

Fuel duty is the highest levy placed on diesel and petrol, at 52.95p per litre, followed by VAT at 20 per cent.

The Government receives £26.2billion from the tax – about 2.7 per cent of all Treasury receipts.