Budget 2012: Osborne disappoints motorists over fuel price increase
The chancellor looks to be on a collision course with motoring groups after he failed to drop plans to introduce a 3p a litre petrol price increase set to hit forecourts in August.
Despite oil prices hitting $125 a barrel, and the price of unleaded petrol expected to rise above £1.40 a litre this week, George Osborne chose not to help hard-pressed motorists with a further duty cut.
Osborne, who scrapped the annual fuel tax escalator and cut fuel duty by 1p in his March 2011 budget, said fuel would have been 6p a litre more expensive had he not taken his previous action.
He told the House of Commons he has eased the burden on the motorist by £4.5bn and said fuel duty would not rise faster than inflation, unless oil prices were to fall below £45 a barrel – around a third of the current price of crude oil.
In the runup to the budget, various motoring groups had campaigned for a further duty cut arguing that record high petrol prices were having a disastrous effect on individual household budgets and the economy as a whole.
Since March 2010, the price of petrol has risen 23.24p a litre or almost 20%. For
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