After a major campaign in Parliament the Chancellor has announced a two-year freeze in fuel duty – but Julian Knight MP thinks the Government has further to go.
He previously joined colleagues and wrote to the Prime Minister to call for such a move and express his concern about the impact of higher pump prices on the cost of living, especially when faced with the prospect of a now-abandoned 2p rise this year.
Now Julian wants to go further, and urges the Government to take action so that pump prices pass falls in international oil prices on to consumers as quickly as they pass on the increased costs when prices go up.
In response to the Autumn Statement, Julian Knight said:
“I welcome Philip Hammond’s decision to freeze fuel duty until 2018, making it the longest tax freeze in history. Taxing petrol raises costs across the economy and hits the worse-off hardest.
“But whilst this is a step in the right direction, I want the Government to go further. British drivers continue to pay more tax on their fuel than almost anyone else in the world, and a cut in duty levels would boost the economy.
“We also need regulation of pump prices to make sure they follow oil prices downwards as quickly as upwards! At the moment sellers don’t hesitate to hike prices almost immediately, but when their costs go down prices are slow to follow.”