It was all quite surreal. On Monday, the Prime Minister addressed the nation to announce his plans for tackling surging fuel prices. Motorists and taxpayers alike waited with bated breath for the news we all wanted to hear.
Sir Keir Starmer did his best to appear as if he understood the gravity of the situation and the needs of the moment. With war in the Middle East being felt on the forecourts at home, now was the time for leadership. And he flopped.
In typical fashion, rather than offering real help to struggling households, Starmer delivered a sleep-inducing sermon, trotting out tired slogans and failed policies while ignoring the role the Government has played in driving up energy prices. If this was Starmer’s answer, he didn’t understand the question.
Millions of hard-working Britons will have visited petrol stations in villages, towns and cities across the country and been struck by the surge in prices.
Of course, international oil prices drive the cost, but more than half of what you pay at the pump is tax. For all their talk of price gouging, it’s ministers taking the largest share.
Fuel duty alone makes up more than a third of what you’re charged for filling up your tank, with environmental levies and fees and VAT making up the rest.
Did Sir Keir consider this? Apparently not. When asked about the planned 5p increase in fuel duty, all the Prime Minister could do was claim that his Government was helping by not putting it up now!
Fuel duty is an enormous burden. New research from the TaxPayers’ Alliance has revealed that over a lifetime, the typical household will pay more than £36,000 to the treasury in fuel duty. If the rate increase goes ahead, this will surge to almost £40,000.
For context, that’d be enough to treat yourself to a brand new Audi Q2 or a Tesla Model 3 (other vehicles are available). No wonder this greedy government has no interest in taking real action to help families.
For a Government that claims to want to help the worst off, they’ve got a funny way of showing it. According to the latest statistics, the poorest households can expect to spend more than £500 a year on fuel duty, accounting for 2.7 per cent of their income. Meanwhile, the richest households will pay £812 a year or just 0.44 per cent of their income.
Unless the PM pulls the plug, this is how much his horror September tax will cost you - Benjamin Elks
|Getty Images
Fuel duty also places pensioners in the Government’s crosshairs once again, with the typical retired household handing over 1.3 per cent of their income to the chancellor compared to 0.9 per cent for the average working household. And all of this is before they jack up the rate in September.
How do we find ourselves in this position? The answer is simple. We have a Government that only believes in pandering to hard-left lobby groups and eco-loons, and with an insatiable appetite for spending and taxing. Their answer is always more borrowing and spending, never cutting taxes.
Rather than make savings by cutting the ballooning benefits bill or tackling illegal migration, ministers are expecting bumper receipts for the treasury.
Rather than consider how their own policies have hampered fuel production or how their taxes have inflated the price of fuel, they’re eyeing up the next industry-crushing regulation or green subsidy.
All they can do is flail around and accuse others of profiteering when really they’re simply responding to market pressures.
When supply is restricted, the price goes up. That’s not price-gouging, that’s basic economics. However much they want to blame retailers and producers with phoney claims of profiteering, the reality is that the real price-gougers are sitting around the cabinet table.
Token gestures of support do little to reassure households as the bill for just getting around soars and ministers plot further raids on their pockets.
If Keir Starmer really wants to reassure hard-working families, motorists, and taxpaying Brits, he’d immediately rule out increasing fuel duty. But I’m not holding my breath.
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