Rishi Sunak unveiled a 5p reduction in fuel duty during his spring statement at the end of March. However, the Chancellor’s efforts to help Britons cope with the cost of living crisis appear to have failed as fuel prices have soared to new highs.
According to RAC, retailers were taking on average 2 pence more in profit per liter of fuel than before Mr Sunak’s intervention.
This could see retailers take in up to an additional £7million every month.
Robert Halfon, who was first elected to the Commons as MP for Harlow in 2010, has now urged the government to act.
According to the Times, Mr Halfon said: ‘These companies are defrauding motorists along with the big oil companies and appear to be the only ones to come out of the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis well.’
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The chairman of the education select committee added: ‘It is high time the government put in place a regulator to monitor pumps to ensure fair prices.’
However, the RAC also compared the difference between the average wholesale price of petrol and the retail price on UK forecourts before and after the Chancellor’s spring statement.
They found that in the month before Sunak’s announcement, the average margin for petrol was 9p per liter and 6p per liter for diesel.
The latest figures suggest this has reached a margin of 11p for unleaded petrol and 8p for diesel.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams told The Times: “It is difficult to explain why retailers seem to be taking more of a margin now than before the Chancellor’s fee cut in March.
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The overall price of gasoline and diesel has also not come down since Sunak’s announcement.
Petrol stood at 167.01 pence per liter and diesel at 179.9 pence per liter at the time of spring reporting.
Petrol fell slightly to 166.65p and diesel rose to 180.3p.
A government source told The Times: ‘The fuel tax cut was introduced to help drivers cope with rising costs.
“As we made clear at the time, we would expect retailers to pass on the reduction, not take advantage of it.”
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Source: www.express.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-17 02:55:55
