Osborne’s fuel tax ‘cut’ unravels

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

George Osborne yesterday claimed that he had cancelled the April rise in fuel duty. Osborne was still peddling the “cancelled duty rise” myth this morning, when he told BBC Breakfast:

“And it is not just the penny cut, I think people need to be aware that petrol was going to go up by another five pence in a couple of weeks’ time and I have cancelled that.”

Today though it has emerged that he hasn’t cancelled it at all – he’s postponed it until January. That means that motorists will be hit with a double whammy of two fuel duty rises in one year.

Responding to George Osborne’s claims, David Hanson, Labour’s shadow treasury minister said:

“George Osborne and David Cameron are misleading people on the impact of their Budget. George Osborne is not cancelling the 5p fuel duty rise planned for April. He is postponing it until January.”

“It means there are now two fuel duty rises planned next year.”

“And his 1p cut to fuel duty simply means petrol prices are up 2p a litre this year rather than 3p because of this Conservative-led government’s VAT rise.”

So after hitting people with a VAT increase last January, Osborne will be hitting motorists again at the toughest time of the year for family finances (post-Christmas). In addition to this, there’s be another fuel duty rise later in the year. That all puts his 1p cut into perspective.