Andy Burnham has been told to immediately “scrap” a new 3p petrol and diesel price hike set to hit motorists in the coming months. Fuel duty prices were supposed to increase in 2026, with Labour keen to reverse the Conservatives’ previous 5p cut.
Rising fuel costs led Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to freeze the price rises earlier this year, with the hikes pushed back to 2027. It means that the legal default is for fuel duty to start rising in the new year, with motorists set to face a 3p-per-litre rise from January.
The RAC has already hinted that the Government may need to abandon plans to raise fuel duty, and it looks like they are not alone. Richard Smith, managing director of the Road Haulage Association (RHA), warned that any planned increases need to be stopped.
He said: “With pump prices climbing rapidly again, putting a tax rise on top would push up costs for every business that moves goods, and for every household that buys them. Our first ask of the Government is simple. Change course now, don’t put fuel duty up! Scrapping the rises planned for January, March and April is the cheapest inflation control this Government has.”
According to a new poll from the RHA of 2,147 adults, as many as eight in 10 people (78%) are worried that rising fuel and transport costs will push up the price of food and basic household essentials.
Fuel costs are already at staggering highs, with diesel closing in on the all-time high recorded back in 2022. Petrol fees have reached 172.4p a litre, with diesel now at 196.1p per litre as wholesale oil costs continue to be affected by disruption in the Middle East.
Chancellor John Healey will be expected to address what he is doing around fuel duty fees in his Autumn Budget scheduled for the end of October.
Richard added: “More and more politicians are catching up with the public on fuel duty. Eight in ten people want it cut or frozen, and they’re right. A fuel duty hike is a food price hike.”
