Chancellor misses opportunity to fuel economic growth

“Whilst it is a welcome announcement from the Chancellor that the government will freeze both petrol and fuel duty for a further 12 months from April 2018, it falls a long way short of demands from our members and the haulage industry for a significant cut to fuel duty”, comments Brian Madderson, Chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA).

Both the PRA and the haulage industry have repeatedly called for a cut to diesel duty which would have been beneficial to the economy by reducing transportation costs for so many products, and for consumers who purchased diesel cars in good faith, encouraged by the taxation regime of former governments.

Madderson continues, “This budget represents a missed opportunity to fuel economic growth and minimise inflationary trends.

“The PRA will continue to press for fuel duty cuts to boost our economy and to move the UK towards a level playing field with fuel duty levels in EU countries as we head towards Brexit. 

“At present over 2million foreign trucks enter the UK via the short-sea ferry, and tunnel routes having already filled their long range tanks with low tax diesel on the near continent.  These vehicles unfairly compete with UK based hauliers and contribute little to the Treasury from fuel taxes.  This is a harsh anomaly which the Government needs to address without further delay.”