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Labour looks set to freeze fuel duty as Wes Streeting hints at support of The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign
Watch our full Never Mind The Ballots interview with Wes Streeting above
THE Sun’s Keep It Down campaign to freeze fuel duty will be “pushing at an open door” under Labour, Wes Streeting promises.
The car-loving Shadow Health Secretary said he "knows the pain" of drivers being clobbered by crippling pump prices.
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It comes after both Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves declined to make cast-iron guarantees that the petrol tax would be frozen if Labour emerge victorious on July 4.
Mr Streeting told our Never Mind The Ballots election show: "You've seen the support that Rachel has given The Sun year after year when you've run this campaign.
“One thing I can predict with absolute certainty is that when Rachel Reeves announces the date of her first budget, if we win the next general election, The Sun will run that campaign again, as you always do, and you've got a pretty good track record of success.
"And Rachel Reeves has got a pretty good track record of backing your campaign.
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“So without wanting to speak for Rachel or write her budgets for her… Rachel has shown time and again that she understands the pressures on motorists and the pressures of the prices of the pumps.
“I know that as a motorist myself, so does Rachel. I think it'd be pushing an open door."
The rate of fuel duty, worth 52p a litre, has been frozen since 2011 after 14 years of success for our campaign.
Our work has helped save Britain's 37 million drivers £16 on every full tank of fuel in the last year alone.
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Yesterday Ms Reeves told Sun readers to “judge me on my record” at Labour’s manifesto launch.
She added: “Every time fuel duty has threatened to go up, we’ve opposed it. I backed The Sun’s campaign ahead of the last Budget.
“We’ve supported the freezes in fuel duty every time during the course of this parliament.
“Indeed, I backed The Sun’s campaign to freeze fuel duty ahead of the last Budget and pushed the Government to do just that.”
But her boss Sir Keir Starmer dodged a promise and said: “The campaign The Sun runs comes up budget by budget and has to be decided budget by budget.
“But our track record on this is pretty consistent with the Sun’s campaign.
“We’ve actually backed it every time.”
Labour's manifesto also confirmed it would reinstate the original timeline to outlaw the sale of new fossil fuel cars.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
It claimed this would give "certainty to manufacturers" - despite forcing them to accelerate their plans to phase out petrol and diesel.
The party said it would "support the transition to electric vehicles" by accelerating the rollout of charge points.
Our Keep It Down campaign
By THOMAS GODFREY, News Reporter
For more than a decade our Keep It Down campaign has urged successive Chancellors to freeze the rate of fuel duty to stop the cost of petrol rising with the rate of inflation.
Our award-winning work has saved drivers millions of pounds at the pump in the last decade.
Earlier this year Jeremy Hunt thanked Sun readers for helping him to make the case to freeze fuel duty in his last Budget.
The freeze meant drivers would not have to face a potential £100 rise in motoring costs as a result of a 12p per litre duty hike.
Mr Hunt said: "I know how much Sun readers are feeling the pinch right now.
"Whether you drive a van, a hatchback or a people carrier I know how much you need to be on the road.
"Keeping it down means hard-working people will have an extra £100 this year without having to cut down using their vehicle."
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