The campaign group FairFuelUK says it fears drivers will be “hit hard” in the forthcoming budget, after Prime Minister Kier Starmer did not mention fuel duty in his warnings over a tough budget to come.

In the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday, he repeated that there would be no increase in income tax, VAT, or national insurance, but FairFuelUK says it is now clear that Labour’s first Budget “will hit the motorist hard”.

it says that, reading between the lines of the PM’s speech, and from what it calls Whitehall intelligence, FairFuelUK is in no doubt that the Treasury will “revert to type” by increasing Fuel Duty from October.

Howard Cox, Founder of FairFuelUK, said:  “I have credible intelligence that the Treasury has virtually settled, through its internal economic modelling, on increasing Fuel Duty by 10p/litre.

“For nearly 15 years, I have proven that hiking levies on one of the highest-taxed motorist sectors in the world would damage the economy, jobs, inflation, business investment and freedom of movement. Such a punitive hike will also stifle growth, which may be why his speech did not even mention Labour’s central campaigning pre-election mantra.

“The inevitable move to Big Brother pay-per-mile taxation, which Labour plans to work alongside the declining fuel duty income, will undoubtedly be announced in the budget too.  I predict the net outcome from the October Budget is that the UK’s 37m drivers are set to be fleeced on a scale not seen since 1997 to 2010 when Labour increased fuel duty by a staggering 46 per cent.”

(Picture – Yay Images)