Boris Johnson’s top adviser Dominic Cummings pushes to hike fuel duty for the first time in a decade
BRITAIN’S 37million drivers could face the first fuel duty rise in a decade next month.
They may be targeted in the Budget as Boris Johnson’s all- powerful adviser Dominic Cummings eyes up a £4billion spending pot.
He wants to end the fuel duty freeze, which has been in place since 2010 and saves drivers about £1.50 every time they fill up.
The tax will probably go up by the rate of inflation, putting 2p on a litre of fuel.
However, the rise might be delayed until next year.
Mr Cummings wants to use fuel tax to fund the PM’s promised spending on infrastructure outside the capital, Treasury sources say.
Some in No10 believe it will also boost the Tories’ reputation on the environment.
Fuel duty was frozen thanks to The Sun’s long-running Keep it Down campaign. It was one of the issues on which Mr Cummings and Sajid Javid disagreed before the latter quit as Chancellor last week.
But Mr Javid’s replacement, Rishi Sunak, is a No10 loyalist and thought unlikely to block any attempt to end the freeze on March 11.
During the election, the PM told The Sun he had “absolutely no intention” of raising fuel duty.
But allies of Mr Johnson and the new Chancellor refused to rule it out yesterday. One said: “Rishi is still getting his feet under the desk. There have been no decisions yet.”
Experts say a five-year freeze will cost the Government about £4billion a year.
But Tory MP Robert Halfon told The Sun: “This war on motorists has got to stop.”
And Howard Cox, of the FairFuel campaign, said ministers should be trying to cut fuel duty and that any rise would be “devastating to hard-pressed motorists”.
It is one of several tax rises being considered.
In talks yesterday, the PM and Mr Sunak were said to be looking at raids on pension tax relief and council tax rises for the rich.
No10 declined to comment.
THE SUN SAYS
PUNISHING hard-working people for going about their daily business is a sure way to haemorrhage votes.
So why on earth is Boris Johnson’s top adviser considering hiking the fuel tax?
For smart city types blessed with excellent transport links, the increase would be a nuisance.
But for the Prime Minister’s new wave of voters who switched to Tory — ordinary grafters living in towns and villages — it’d be downright disastrous.
Everywhere you look, these people are being hammered by the cost of living.
Millions of Brits work hard day and night, yet come home to brown envelopes with yet more demands to pay. Energy bills, council tax, parking costs, phone bills, food bills — up, up, up.
Of course, it’s great that the Government is investing £5billion in bus and cycling routes to make life that bit cheaper for commuters. That’s exactly the sort of policy we’ve been calling for.
But it can’t come at the expense of Britain’s 37 million drivers. On this occasion, Boris must ignore Dominic Cummings and use his common sense.
Whacking voters with a whopping great tax for the privilege of taking their kids to school won’t make him any friends.
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