The PRA says it largely welcomes measures announced in today’s Budget: with fuel duty frozen until July 2027, and lower-value forecourts gaining exemption from business rates.
In a win for the association’s executive director Gordon Balmer, who had lobbied for the freeze, Chancellor John Healey rewound on earlier plans to re-introduce the 5p per litre cut in fuel duty in two stages early next year.
In another positive for the industry, albeit not for the vast majority of petrol stations, Healey also announced a higher threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure sites to be exempt from business rates, rising from a rateable value of a site from £12,000 to £18,000 next April.
Balmer says: “We are broadly pleased. The Chancellor has listened to our request to defer the planned fuel duty rise, which was due in January. The business rates relief increase will also help singleton forecourt operators with lower-value sites.”
The PRA also embraced the news that the government will launch a consultation on expanding the scope of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to include refinery products.
This will examine whether imported fuels and refinery products should face a carbon-related charge when entering the UK. At present, overseas refiners operating under lower environmental cost regimes may have a competitive advantage over UK refiners.
The consultation, run by HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs, is scheduled to close on January 20, 2027.
