Around 300 protestors braved heavy rain to support FairFuelUK’s mass lobby of MPs at Westminster yesterday in the campaign for fuel duty cuts.

Organised by the FairFuelUK group, the protest included delivery of the Centre for Economics and Business Research’s (CEBR) report, which reveals that even a modest cut in fuel duty of 2.5ppl would create 180,000 new jobs and boost GDP by 0.33%, to 10 Downing Street.

FairFuelUK founder Peter Carroll said: “We had massive media coverage during the morning and went to Downing Street to hand over a copy of the CEBR report, which should revolutionise government thinking. The aim of the day was to make sure the political world knew about the CEBR report and I think we achieved that. We were hampered by severely bad weather and got absolutely soaked but of the 1,000 people who registered, 300 turned up.

“We got a lot of time in the House of Commons having face to face meetings,” added Carroll. “The reaction of the MPs was a reaction of two halves – you have the MPs who already understand that cutting tax will generate more wealth, but we also have to work very hard to move the mindset of those who think you need to put the rate up. We are hopeful that Chancellor George Osborne will see sense and cut fuel duty in his Budget.”

Motoring journalist Quentin Willson, national spokesman for FairFuelUK, said: “We have shared the findings of this report with MPs and Ministers. However, with only weeks to go to the Budget, we are concerned that the government is not listening and not taking on board the significance of these findings. For months, the government has been wheeling out the same old argument that it ‘can’t afford to cut duty’. Here is concrete evidence that it can make such a cut.”

Both petrol and diesel pump prices have risen daily this week, with petrol reaching 137.97ppl and diesel 145.07ppl today.

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