Labour's autumn budget confirms fuel duty freeze for a further 12 months

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves has confirmed a further one-year freeze on fuel duty in her autumn budget statement.

Speaking in the House of Commons earlier today, the Labour MP confirmed the 5p cut first instated by the previous Conservative government would remain in place too.

According to the Treasury, it’s a tax cut worth £3billion, and could save the average motorist £60 a year.

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“Drivers will breathe an enormous sigh of relief after all the speculation that the 5p cut would be scrapped at the same time as pushing duty up beyond the long-term rate of 57.95p,” RAC head of policy Simon Williams said.

“It’s also worth remembering that even as of today 56% of the total price of a litre of petrol is already tax in the form of fuel duty, and the VAT that is charged on top.”

On top of this, the government have also accepted the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations to implement something called ‘Fuel Finder’ – an open data scheme for fuel prices and market monitoring, which will kick in by the end of 2025.

“It’s fantastic to see the Government has now said it will introduce the Pumpwatch scheme and fuel price monitoring function by the end of next year as this is something we’ve long been calling for,” Williams added.

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“This will help drivers get a fairer deal every time they fill up by enabling them to find the cheapest fuel near them and ensuring significant reductions in wholesale fuel prices are passed on to customers at the pumps.”

This was added to by Howard Cox, Founder of FairFuelUK, who said: “That’s a great start. But please don’t rest on your laurels.

“Let’s build the first-ever road-user transport strategy that benefits the economy without your party’s false and emotional, scientifically baseless belief that the UK is the only country to save the planet, and the motorist is to blame for all the environmental ills.”

Away from fuel prices, the budget statement also pledged to fix an additional one million potholes per year across England – increasing the available funds by £500 million across 2024-25.

Again, the RAC’s Simon Williams responded, with hopes that this additional budget is spent in the correct way.  

“It’s vital councils don’t just use the money to fill potholes as this is unlikely to deliver the long-term benefit drivers so badly want to see,” he said. “We believe greater use of preventative maintenance is essential.

“Surface dressing roads at regular intervals is a proven, cost-effective way of ensuring potholes don’t appear in the first place, along with resurfacing the worst affected roads.”