LABOUR FORCES U-TURN ON FUEL DUTY

It is good news that George Osborne listened to Labour’s calls for January’s fuel duty rise to be scrapped – even though Conservative and Lib Dem MPs voted against this just a few weeks ago.

With our recovery so fragile and the cost of living rising, this would have been the wrong tax rise at the wrong time.

In government, Labour postponed or cancelled planned fuel duty rises on 13 occasions – including at the height of the global financial crisis.

George Osborne’s VAT rise has added around 3p to the price of a litre of petrol.