Millions of drivers will pay MORE for petrol under ‘painful’ Autumn Budget plans, warns RAC
DRIVERS have been warned more cost of living pain is on the way as October’s budget is expected to include a rise in fuel duty, according to the RAC.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to squeeze motorists further as the Government seeks to fill a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances.
The tax rate has been frozen at 57.95p per litre since 2011, in part thanks to The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign.
It was even temporarily reduced by 5p to 52.95p in 2022, a cut which has been carried forward to 2024.
However, the RAC is now urging drivers to prepare for the first rise in the rate for over a decade, returning it to pre-2022 levels
The Chancellor is expected to announce the move as part of a package of revenue raisers as the Treasury scrambles to balance the books.
It follows from Sir Keir Starmer’s speech this week, in which he revealed that “things will get worse before they get better”.
The PM also called on “those with the broadest shoulders” to cough up more to fill the hole, which he blamed on the previous government.
Speaking in the Downing Street rose garden, Sir Keir said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful.
“We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.
“I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.”
Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, said that Ms Reeves had “no option” but to increase the fuel duty to 58p per litre when she gets up to the dispatch box on October 30.
He added: “She knows the 5p discount is losing the Treasury £2 billion a year.
“She also knows drivers were overcharged by a staggering £1.6 billion last year according to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recent report.
“We’d normally be against any increase in duty, but we’ve long been saying drivers haven’t been benefiting from the current discount due to much higher-than-average retailer margins.”
The Sun's 14-year campaign to freeze fuel duty
The Sun has backed drivers as part of the Keep It Down campaign with rates of fuel duty not rising since the start of 2011.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt earlier this year thanked Sun readers for helping him to make the case to freeze fuel duty in his last Budget.
The freeze meant drivers would not have to face a potential £100 rise in motoring costs as a result of a 12p per litre duty hike.
Our decade-long campaign fights on behalf of readers to freeze duty on petrol and diesel to help deal with rising living costs.
Mr Hunt said: “I know how much Sun readers are feeling the pinch right now.
“Whether you drive a van, a hatchback or a people carrier I know how much you need to be on the road.
“Keeping it down means hard-working people will have an extra £100 this year without having to cut down using their vehicle.”
Mr Williams also urged ministers to use the boost to consider a new system of road tax, using the controversial pay-per-mile template.
He went on: “As more and more electric vehicles come onto the roads, the Government will need to tax drivers differently.
“We think replacing fuel duty with a pay-per-mile system as soon as possible is the way forward as then the only tax levied on fuel would be VAT.
“This would give retailers nowhere to hide.”
However, the Opposition has responded furiously to the speculation of tax rises.
Tory leader and former PM Rishi Sunak tweeted: “Keir Starmer’s speech today was the clearest indication of what Labour has been planning to do all along – raise your taxes.”
And leadership contender Robert Jenrick accused Sir Keir of “shamelessly rewriting history” after “laying the groundwork for huge tax rises”.