A meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for fair fuel was held in the Commons today and backed calls for a duty freeze or cut in next week’s Budget.
This comes amid fears that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will hike fuel duty for hard-pressed motorists. The meeting was attended by 45 MPs, including former Home secretary Priti Patel, who warned that such a move would be unacceptable and cause misery.
The strength of feeling on the issue was expressed at the APPG chaired by Conservative Thanet South MP Craig Mackinlay which was attended by Ms Patel as well as newer MPs including Stoke North Tory Jonathan Gullis.
There are concerns that the Chancellor will bring in the first fuel duty increase since 2010, when George Osborne cancelled the escalator brought in by the last Labour government.
Some reports have suggested that Mr Hunt will increase duty by as much as 14p per litre when VAT is taken into account. Ms Patel warned that a fuel duty increase could impact and drag on the economy by 1 percent, add 2.3 percent to inflation and put 31,000 jobs at risk.
Hauliers face additional fuel costs of tens of thousands of pounds and families face hundreds of pounds more in costs.
The former Cabinet minister has become a focus of discontent in the current Conservative leadership under Rishi Sunak as one of the main MPs supporting the grassroots Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO).
She echoed concerns of colleagues that Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak’s tax rising agenda will harm economic growth and add to the cost of living misery while making Britain uncompetitive internationally.
The meeting was hosted by Fair Fuel UK led by Howard Cox, who said that all MPs supported a duty freeze or cut, but none of them backed a hike.
The row over fuel duty increases is one of many headaches faced by the Chancellor next week, including pressure to cancel the planned increase in Corporation Tax which has been branded “disastrous” for economic growth by Tory backbenchers, raising the state age of retirement and the age when prescriptions become free for the elderly.
Craig Mackinlay said that the strength of feeling amongst MPs against any fuel duty rise is growing, reflecting entirely what constituents are saying.
He added that halving inflation is one of the PM’s priorities and that increasing fuel taxes would be a regressive tax that hits the poorest hardest and all meeting work, family and social commitments.
