Over 50 MPs are urging Chancellor Philip Hammond to cut fuel duty when he delivers the Autumn Statement on November 23rd.
This month’s Autumn Statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be the first update given on the Treasury’s plans for the economy since Hammond took over the role.
Hammond’s predecessor, George Osborne, froze fuel duty while he was Chancellor by postponing planned price increases back in 2011, and he repeatedly kept fuel duty frozen up until the point he left his role.
Now over 50 MPs want the Government to go one step further and reduce fuel duty this time, which means reducing the amount of tax motorists pay on petrol and diesel.
Calls for a fuel watchdog
The proposal to decrease fuel duty in the Autumn statement was included in a letter sent by MPs to the Chancellor last week.
In the same letter was a request for the Government to set up a fuel watchdog called PumpWatch.
One Conservative MP who signed the letter, Pauline Latham, has explained that the watchdog would prevent motorists from being “ripped off” by major oil companies.
She said: “When prices rise at the pump, it’s hard-working families and businesses that are hit hardest. I’m backing this letter as cutting fuel duty would be a huge boost to drivers and of massive benefit to local businesses.
“Too often drivers are taken for a ride by big oil companies. They feel fuel prices fall like a feather but rise like a rocket. That’s why I’m also urging the Chancellor to set up a new PumpWatch body to police predatory pricing at the pump.”
