Relief for drivers as fuel duty frozen again and extra £200m set aside to fix potholes

MOTORISTS have been spared rising prices at the pumps after the Government said it would freeze fuel duty for the 13th year running.

Jeremy Hunt said the rate of duty would remain the same, while a temporary 5p cut, introduced by Rishi Sunak last year when he was chancellor, would continue for another 12 months.

It means that duty will remain at 53p a litre for petrol and diesel.

Without the freeze, motorists faced paying an extra 12p per litre for petrol, the Office for Budget Responsibility had warned. This would have increased the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car by £6.60, adding to inflationary pressures.

VAT is also levied on fuel duty, compounding any rise in the tax.

Fuel duty is supposed to rise with the retail prices index measure of inflation, which was 13.4pc in January, meaning motorists would have faced especially steep rises this year. The Chancellor said that along with last year’s meas- ures, the announcement would save motorists £10billion over two years, or £200 for the average driver.

The freeze and the 5p cut will cost the Treasury £4.8 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, while the freeze will cost between £2.5billion and £2.6billion each year over the next four years, at which point it is assumed the 5p cut will expire.

The Government said it would “continue to keep fuel duty rates in the long term under review”.

Despite the Conservatives’ track record of freezing fuel duty, Mr Hunt had previously suggested that repeating the measure would depend on the state of the public finances.

The Budget also includes funds for local governments to fix up to 4million potholes around the country.

A total of £200million has been set aside to help improve and maintain local roads, although the sum will also be earmarked for repairing bridges.