Fuel duties frozen in 2021 budget
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has confirmed his and the government’s budget for the following 12 months.
Much of the focus was driven towards the extension of the furlough scheme, which will remain in place until September, an increase to the National Living Wage and mortgage guarantee schemes, but there was some relevant news for motorists.
Sunak claimed that he was not prepared to increase the cost of living, so he confirmed that plans to hike the cost of fuel were to be cancelled.
There had been some suggestions from The Telegraph that the price of fuel could rise by up to 5p per litre in March, however, that will not be the case. Fuel duty has been frozen at 57.95p per litre since 2009.
Speaking in the House of Commons during a lunchtime announcement on May 3, the Chancellor said: “To keep the cost of living low I'm not prepared to increase the price of a tank of fuel. So the planned rise in fuel duty is also cancelled.”
According to a report from the Express, who cite FairFuelUK, fuel in the United Kingdom remains the most expensive of any country in Europe, ahead of the likes of France and the Netherlands.
This comes following the increased reliance on personal cars during the Coronavirus pandemic, with the British public limiting their use of public transport.
