Parents could have to home school children because of ‘unaffordable’ petrol prices

PARENTS could have to home school children because they cannot afford the petrol to drive them to class.

MP Robert Halfon said mums are having to make the painful choice because fuel is “unaffordable”.

The stark warning by the Tory boss of the education select committee came as the price of filling up a family car with petrol smashed the £90 barrier for the first time.

Furious Conservative MPs piled pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to slash fuel duty to help struggling families with “eye-watering” costs.

Mr Halfon said: “I have had constituents who have told me they have had to sleep in car parks overnight because they cannot afford to drive home.

“A mother has said to me she is thinking about home educating her child because of the cost of driving to school.

“It is the biggest cost for millions of people.”

Mr Halfon is among a growing army of MPs urging the Treasury to act in next week’s mini budget.

In a stormy session of Parliament yesterday, Jake Berry, the leader of the Tory Red Wallers and a close ally of Boris Johnson, told Mr Sunak to cough up.

He fumed: “With the cost of fuel now being an eye-watering £2 a litre in some areas, it has led to a huge VAT windfall for the Treasury.”

Fellow Tory MP Fay Jones said the cost of living “is biting hard”.

And another Conservative Giles Watling urged No 11 to reduce fuel duty for those who rely on their motor for work.

Mr Sunak said he would “bear in mind” the suggestions.

Meanwhile, the PM today heads to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to urge them to ramp up oil production as the world weans itself off Russian energy.