Over 130,000 motorists sign petition pleading with Jeremy Hunt to spare them a fuel duty Budget price hike

MORE than 130,000 angry drivers will beg Chancellor Jeremy Hunt tomorrow to spare them a fuel duty Budget price hike.

Campaigners will march on Downing Street in a show of force.

A petition signed by 132,000 will be presented, demanding fuel duty be cut.

Senior MPs including ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel will hand over the signatures just a week before the Budget.

Ex-Minister Jonathan Gullis said of Mr Hunt: “He must keep the 5p cut and anything less for the country’s 37million motorists would be political suicide.”

PM Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p last March when he was Chancellor as fuel prices soared, triggered by the war in Ukraine, costing £2.4billion in lost revenue.

A forecast by financial watchdog the OBR expects to see 12p added to a litre of petrol and diesel if the cut is reversed, taking VAT and inflation into consideration.

The freeze to fuel duty and keeping the 5p cut for a further 12 months will set the Treasury back by £6billion.

The levy had been frozen at 57.95p since 2011, before it was cut last year, thanks to The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign.

Mr Hunt is also set to extend the energy price guarantee an extra three months, costing around £3billion.

A government spokesman said last night: “Global price rises are hitting pockets hard in the UK, which is why our plan to halve inflation this year will allow everyone’s income to go further.”