Fair Fuel UK campaigners are meeting with the Treasury today to make a last-ditch plea for the government to axe the planned August fuel duty rise as diesel prices continue to soar, rising to a record 144.21ppl.
The meeting comes as Britain’s fuel taxes and duties are revealed to be the highest in the European Union at 60% of the price of petrol and 58% for diesel.
Campaigners from Fair Fuel UK – who are backed by the RAC, the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association – will demonstrate to Treasury Minister Chloe Smith that a cut in duty will help treasury revenues, not harm them.
The report highlighting Britain’s fuel tax burden comes just days after Chancellor George Osborne told Sky News that he would not cut fuel duty in the Budget later this month, claiming Britain could not afford it.
Only motorists in Italy face anything like Britain’s levels for diesel, where taxes and duties make up 53% of the cost.
France and Germany are on 47% and 48% respectively, while the lowest tax-take is in Luxembourg with 38%, according to the figures published in the European Commission’s Oil Bulletin.
Fair Fuel UK spokesman, motoring journalist Quentin Willson, told BBC Breakfast: “We want the Treasury to understand that by cutting duty we will stimulate the economy, create growth, get people back spending again. If we get this awful spectre of having to spend £120, £130, £140 to fill up the family car, that is really, really going to disable people and disable the economy.
“Everybody knows that money spent on high fuel duty is not spent in the wider economy, that is simple. We really do need to get that money back on to the streets, back into the shops, back into manufacturing.
“Everything we buy in this country travels by road, so those costs will increase, they will be passed on to the consumer. You get more inflation. We have got to stop this fuel duty monster from taking control.”
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