In March, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in his Spring Statement that fuel duty will be cut by 5p per litre, to help ease the pressure of the cost of living crisis. The decision, which took effect from 6pm on March 23, was the first time in 20 years the cost has been cut. The Chancellor told MPs the cut, which will be in place until March 2023, was the biggest ever and would be worth more £5bn to families and businesses.
The Chancellor's historic move promised some much-needed respite, as the RAC revealed that the price of fuel reached broke records in March. RAC Fuel Watch data recorded not only a new record-high price of 167.3p just the day before the fuel duty cut was implemented, but the average cost of a litre of unleaded petrol also went up by 11.62p to end the month at 163.28p per litre. You can read all our stories on fuel prices here.
The RAC said this is the largest increase it has ever recorded in a single month. It was an even worse story for diesel, which shot up by 22.06p per litre to 177.29p, having peaked at 179.9p on March 23, according to the RAC. We paid a visit to pumps in Wales to compare prices before and after the Chancellor's announcement came into force, which you can read about here . Our findings were mixed: while supermarkets seemed to be going along with the UK Government and passing on a 5p per litre saving to customers, some providers did not - with some having even increased their prices.
