Labour claims the cost of living is priority one, so why hit drivers with a petrol tax rise now? |
“The cost of living crisis remains our number one priority.” That was Ed Miliband’s message to the nation today.
Listen to this article
Over the coming weeks and months that proposition will be tested. Whether it’s rhetoric or reality will be judgeable based on a simple criteria: does she stop the hike in fuel duty.
From this September, the government will be phasing in a 5p per litre increase in the tax paid on petrol and diesel. It will begin with an additional 1p in September, followed by 2p in December, and a final 2p in March.
This would have been a bitter pill to swallow for motorists at the best of times. These are very much not the best of times. Even ignoring the increase in tax, prices are set to surge, with some forecasting that petrol and diesel could breach £2 per litre.
That will have impacts on the wider economy. It’s not just families paying more to drive their children to school,........