A leading economist has said choosing to lower fuel duties rather than fund pay for nurses and teachers is "a choice" the Government has decided to make. The comments come as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a freeze on fuel duty in the spring budget.
In March last year, Rishi Sunak announced that instead of the usual annual increase, fuel duty would be cut by 5p to 53p. His predecessor Jeremy Hunt used his spring budget today to further freeze petrol and diesel prices.
He said: “Because inflation remains high, I have decided now is not the right time to uprate fuel duty with inflation or increase the duty. So here’s what I am going to do: for a further 12 months I’m going to maintain the 5p cut and I’m going to freeze fuel duty too. That saves the average driver £100 next year and around £200 since the 5p cut was introduced.”
