China is cutting petrol and diesel prices to help stimulate consumer demand – and the UK government should do the same, fuel price campaigning group FairFuel UK has said.

According to China’s fuel pricing rules, a change is considered if a weighted moving average price of three types of international crude oils rises or falls 4%, and the interval between two price changes is at least 22 working days. The latest price reduction – of 6% – is the second cut this year, and the largest since late 2008.

Motoring journalist Quentin Willson, official spokesman for FairFuel UK, said: “If China is using lowering the price of fuel to stimulate economic growth, then why can’t the the UK government see this too? Economic growth means more “FairFuelUK has shown that a cut in fuel duty will generate jobs, stimulate GDP and also all at no cost to the Treasury,” added Willson. “It’s a no brainer.”

The Centre for Economics and Business Research’s (CEBR) report, commissioned by FairFuel UK, revealed that even a modest cut in fuel duty of 2.5ppl would create 180,000 new jobs and boost GDP by 0.33%.

Meanwhile, FairFuel UK has found that eight out of 10 of its supporters are not satisfied with their MP’s response to high fuel prices. The results of a poll showed that of the 13,000 supporters who contacted their MP about fuel prices, only 20% were satisifed with the response they received.

There are now 42 MPs supporting the call to scrap the 3ppl fuel duty rise planned for August.

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