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Aaron Morris

Drivers "not just Cash Cows" - Campaigners call for UK to reduce fuel duty amid cost of living crisis

A UK-based campaigning group has called for cuts in Fuel Duty rates to assist those hardest hit by increased motoring taxes, citing a proposed reduction in inflation.

FairFuelUk - which describes itself as a 'public affairs team' - has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to drop fuel taxes amidst a cost of living crisis, in which prices on everyday consumables have skyrocketed through inflation.

The group insist that dropping fuel related taxes will reduce inflation, increase GDP, create more jobs, and stimulate consumer spending across the United Kingdom.

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The group has also cited these economic outcomes are 'incontestable' and will generate extra income to the Treasury because of a more buoyant economy.

And now FairFuelUK has called upon the Prime Minister to 'return to fiscal reality' adding the cost of his Net Zero aspirations 'will cripple the economy and everyone’s lives.'

Founder of FairFuelUK Howard Cox said: "The return on investment through No 10’s green driven agenda is widely believed to be insignificant and will cost the Government millions of votes. UK’s Cliff edge un-consulted eco-targets will not save the planet.

"Their exorbitant costs to the nation and the public in attempting lowering emissions by a smidgen is tantamount to lancing a pimple on the backside of a sumo wrestler. These policies are simply a waste of time and money."

He continued: “Looking virtuous as the greenest of green nations will not make the UK energy self-sufficient nor ingratiate voters to hugely ineffective, highly expensive ways to buy into these idealistic idiocies.”

And the campaign has also sprung the interest of Members of Parliament, who are also urging for change amid a sky rocketing cost of living due to inflation and tax rises.

Harlow MP Robert Halfon (Con) added: “We cannot sacrifice families on the altar of climate change.”

Howard added: “When I and FairFuelUK interviewed Boris Johnson (on video) prior to the EU Referendum, asking what will leaving the EU mean to UK’s drivers, the then future Prime Minister told me, we’d get back control of our taxes, notably VAT and Fuel Duty.

“The cost-of-living crisis is now the ideal time for a visionary in-touch leader to take that control and reduce taxes to really help those who put him into power.

"Failure to do so will magnify an already unnecessarily created electoral divide.

"It is in the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s hands to lower fuel taxation now on the highest taxed diesel drivers in the world, order an inquiry into the manipulation of diesel and petrol prices too, and introduce PumpWatch.”

According to research from the group, diesel is priced on average across 167 countries 43.3% less than in the UK.

Germany allegedly prices diesel 8p cheaper, France 6p lower, Italy 8p less - with Russia, USA, Brazil, China, India, selling respectively 98p, 76p, 75p, 66p, and 61p per litre less than the UK.

Douglas McWilliams, boss of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, also spoke of the positives of cheaper fuel, adding: “Cheaper fuel would make a significant difference to turning round the inflationary momentum and the cost-of-living squeeze.”

To compare the price of fuel across the UK with prices across the European Union, check out the table below.

Total Fuel Tax Take in the EU, according to FairFuelUK:
The cost of fuel in countries across the EU, according to FairFuelUK (FairFuelUK)

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