Conservative MP Saqib Bhatti and Fair Fuel UK founder Howard Cox will tomorrow deliver a 130,000 signature petition to Number 10 Downing Street, asking the Chancellor and Prime Minister not to increase fuel duty in next week’s Budget.
Bhatti has also written a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves from himself and over 70 Conservative MPs asking for the 14 year freeze on fuel duty to be maintained.
The letter includes signatures from high-ranking MPs like Priti Patel, Oliver Dowden, Claire Coutinho, Shadow Transport Secretary Helen Whately, and former Roads Minister Richard Holden.
It urges the Chancellor to consider the impact of an increase on low income families, small businesses and the logistics industry, as well as those who live in rural locations and rely on their cars.
It also asks for the roll-out of the Pump Watch scheme, which was originally mooted by the Conservative government. It says that the initiative is vital to help motorists locate the cheapest forecourt prices, as the fuel supply chain “continues to profit from wholesale and oil price changes that are still not passed on to drivers”.
In addition, over 5,000 Fair Fuel UK supporters have each emailed the Chancellor and the ministers for business, energy and transport, calling for a cut in fuel duty.
In a message on X, Bhatti says that there are reports of a 7p per litre fuel duty rise on the way, and that any increase would “hit hardworking families across Britain”. He also thanked Cox for his “hard work”.
Howard Cox says that along with the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance and the likelihood of increased National Insurance contributions from employers, a hike in fuel duty would be “economic and political suicide”.
He adds: “In opposition, Labour always supported a continuing freeze on fuel duty. Now in Government, they see the UK’s driver only as an easy cash cow to pay for their virtue signalling net zero fantasy.”
In fact, he says, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the long-term impact of increasing fuel duty now could lead to a tax revenue collapse of more than 60% within five years.
A recent opinion poll by Fair Fuel UK, of over 80,000 people, showed that 91.2% of respondents did not want fuel duty to be increased.
