RISHI Sunak gives biggest hint yet that he’ll slash fuel duty on hard-pressed motorists on Wednesday as hopes rise he’s about to announce a 5p cut.
The Chancellor admitted that the huge cost of filling up is one of the biggest that people face and thousands of his rural constituents rely on their cars to get around.
It comes after nearly 50 MPs signed a letter to him last week urging him to look at a cut as the price of fuel soars.
Political big beasts including ex Cabinet ministers David Davis and Robert Jenrick are backing HOAR’s campaign to slash the tax and cut prices at the pump.
Yesterday the cost of filling up an average family car’s tank hit £100 for the first-time as Brits face eye-watering rises.
In what would be a huge win for HOAR’s Keep It Down push, Mr Sunak told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I understand that, I have a rural constituency, people are reliant on their cars.
“This is one of the biggest bills people face, watching it go up. I get that.”
Refusing to slap down the prospect of a 5p cut to fuel duty – as other countries have recently announced – he pointed out to the BBC: “We are the party who has frozen fuel duty for over a decade we we recognise the importance of people being able to filling their cars up and it not be able to be prohibitively expensive.”
It came as Labour finally vowed to back a cut for the first time, with Rachel Reeves insisting they won’t stand in the way.
But she said it would only likely slash off £2 from the average tank, and insisted that more needed to be done.
Prices have risen even further after ministers announced a ban on Russian oil.
The Chancellor will reveal his spring statement to MPs on Wednesday, with economic updates and any policy tweaks.
He vowed today he was “working day and night to make sure that we can do what we can to help people.”
Meanwhile, Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis begged the Chancellor for direct help, saying he was running out of ways to try and support desperate families.
He told the BBC: “I am out of tools to help people now.
“It’s not something money management can fix. We need political intervention.”
