130,000 drivers beg Labour not to make rule change next week
Over 130k fuming drivers have rushed to BEG Chancellor Rachel Reeves not to hike fuel duty in a petition. Ahead of the new Labour Party government's Autumn Budget and fiscal statement next Wednesday, motorists and road users have issued a desperate plea.
Senior Tory MPs, led by Saqib Bhatti, handed over the 131,000 signatures a week before the Budget on October 30. On October 22, Mr Bhatti told The Sun: "The Conservatives proved we were on the side of families and businesses by keeping costs at the pump down for fourteen consecutive years.
"Next week, it will be Labour’s big first test to show they will be on their side too.” Parliament's first "bionic Lord" Craig Mackinlay also joined the group to deliver the petition and urge Labour MP and Cabinet member Ms Reeves to "keep it down".
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The former Conservative Party MP said: "A hike would hit people very much in their pockets... and it would hit the most vulnerable. I am a disabled person, I like to call myself temporarily incapacitated. But if you're disabled, seriously disabled, you can't go out and find extra work to pay this tax.
"You have to take it out of the minimal income that you currently have, so it hits the poorest and the most vulnerable the hardest." Howard Cox from FairFuelUK added: "Rachel Reeves should recognise that freezing fuel duty is still the best thing for the economy.
"Putting it up could cause an amazing problem for small businesses, sole traders... I'm afraid fuel duty does hit the working person." The fuel drivers buy at the pumps is taxed in two ways: fuel duty and VAT.
Fuel duty is currently levied at a flat rate of 52.95p per litre whilst VAT is charged at 20% on both the underlying product price and the duty. This chart shows, over time, the amount per litre which has gone to the chancellor.