Fuel Card News Motoring Updates: Vince Cable warns drivers not to expect a drop in fuel duty

Following yesterday’s debate, MPs unanimously demanded the Chancellor consider scrapping the fuel duty rise scheduled for next year.  

At the end of a Commons debate, triggered by an e-petition which attracted more than 100,000 signatures, the motion was passed without a vote.

However, Vince Cable warned drivers not to expect a cut in fuel duty as there isn’t enough Treasury funding to pay for ‘freebies’.

He said: “There are a lot of ideas going round at the moment on cutting taxes and increasing spending, and the Government isn’t in the position to do a lot of this. We’ve got a very big budget deficit and the top priority is getting that down.

“We’ve got to look at this along with a lot of other things. I don’t want to raise people’s expectations because our budget position isn’t where we can make a lot of freebies available.”

Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow, believes ‘fuel duty is the number one issue in Britain’.

He added: “Petrol is now so astronomically expensive that it’s driving people off the road and costing the Treasury money. We must put fuel into the tank of the British economy, and cutting fuel tax is the way to do that. Fuel prices are literally adding to our dole queues.”

In other news, the Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM) has called on the Government to reintroduce road casualty targets in the UK.

Visit www.fuelcards.co.uk  and see how you could save money on your next journey.