Drivers handed £59 each from Labour due to 'significant Cost of Living issue'

Petrol and diesel drivers risked a "significant cost of living issue" without Rachel Reeves' fuel duty freeze, it has emerged. The average driver is expected to save £59 a year thanks to the fuel duty freeze from the new Labour Party government.

Earlier today, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh was asked about the Chancellor's decision to freeze the rate of fuel duty, much to the surprise of many motorists. Ms Haigh said: "I understand from a pure transport policy perspective why there would be people that make the case for increasing fuel duty in order to encourage people out of their cars.

"But I think in the current context, it represents a significant cost of living issue for so many of our constituents. My take is, that in too many parts of the country at the moment, there aren't the alternatives for lots of people."

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Ms Haigh concluded: "Our ambition is absolutely to make public transport more affordable, but crucially more reliable." Chancellor Rachel Reeves told MPs: "Baked into the numbers I inherited from the previous government is an assumption that fuel duty will rise by RPI next year and that the temporary 5p cut will be reversed.

"To retain the 5p cut and to freeze fuel duty again would cost over £3billion next year. At a time when the fiscal position is so difficult, I have to be frank with the house that this is a substantial commitment to make. I have concluded that in these difficult circumstances, while the cost of living remains high, and with a backdrop of global uncertainty, increasing fuel duty next year would be the wrong choice for working people.

"It would mean fuel duty rising by 7p per litre, so I have decided today to freeze fuel duty next year and I will maintain the existing 5p cut for another year too." She went on and said: "There will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year."