Campaigning group FairFuelUK has renewed its call on the government to cut fuel duty as a means of stimulating economic growth.
The call comes after the Bank of England is expected to slash its growth forecast for 2012 to zero.
Motoring journalist Quentin Willson, national spokesman for FairFuelUK said: “Growth is paralysed so it’s time the government looked at cutting fuel duty to stimulate activity.
“If we spend less on fuel tax we’ll spend more on other things. The government acted wisely in abandoning the most recent series of planned rises in fuel duty. These terrible figures from the Bank of England show that there is an urgent need to do more.”
Willson added that fuel duty is one of the few levers at the government’s disposal that could have a dramatic and rapid impact on the rate of growth.
“Our most research showed that a cut of 2.5ppl would boost growth by 0.33% and, crucially would be revenue neutral for the government,” he said. “The extra tax take on the resultant economic growth would compensate for any perceived loss in fuel duty revenue.
“Petrol and diesel are the oxygen of our economy. These times call for bold and decisive action.”
Peter Carroll, founder of FairFuelUK, added: “It is particularly telling that a bank, Aldermore, has recently stepped forward to support FairFuelUK in reaction to the fact that a large proportion of its SME customers are citing high petrol and diesel prices as a major block to growth.”
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