Labour vows to 'support drivers with a laser focus' and save them £685 a year on insurance and fuel costs
Drivers were overcharged by around £900million for fuel in 2022
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Labour have pledged to support drivers and help them battle against rip-off car insurance costs and fuel prices.
Ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s headline speech at the Labour Party Conference, the shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh is pushing for a greater emphasis on helping the UK’s hard-pressed motorists.
It is expected that she will pledge to review the “unfair” hidden fees used by car insurance companies to charge drivers more for a standard policy.
WATCH NOW: Car insurance prices continue to rise
Another driver saw their car insurance costs rocket from £1,200 to £4,500 which rose to over £5,000 from the monthly payment interest.
Louise Haigh is also planning to set up a watchdog to force the cost of petrol and diesel down, after retailers were accused of putting profits ahead of drivers, according to the Telegraph.
Louise Haigh took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to inform drivers of Labour’s intention to help them save on high motoring costs.
She wrote: “Labour will support drivers with a laser-like focus on the cost of living, saving them up to £685 a year.
“Labour will take action on unfair practices pushing up car insurance costs and set up a tough new fuel watchdog to tackle rip-off prices.”
According to RAC Fuel Watch, drivers will pay an average price of 156.69p per litre for petrol and 162.65p for diesel.
As has usually been the case, drivers can save money when filling up at supermarkets, with average savings of around two or three pence per litre.
Earlier this year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) slammed retailers and supermarkets for charging motorists unfairly at the pumps.
It is believed that in 2022 alone, the four biggest supermarkets charged an additional £900million for fuel, with drivers being overcharged £75million per month.
Diesel drivers in particular were hit with huge additional fees from all retailers between January and May 2023, paying an average of 13p per litre more.
Louise Haigh will reportedly target the Prime Minister in her speech, accusing him of “parroting bizarre conspiracy theories”.
She predicts that the measures set to be put forward by Labour will save the average driver up to £685 a year on insurance and fuel.
The MP for Sheffield Heeley also took aim at Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap HS2 with “Network North”.
She said the UK “deserved better” than Sunak’s “wish list” to boost transport in the north of England.
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Louise Haigh has vowed to back motorists
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She stated: "'Network North’ can be broken down into three categories: Projects that have already been built. Projects that have already been announced. Projects that do not exist.”