The ‘temporary’ fuel duty cut that was first introduced by Rishi Sunak in 2022 has been extended for the second time.
Initially, Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p to help with the fuel prices that were spiralling out of control but data showed greedy retailers were seldom passing the cut onto motorists and instead using it to boost their own margins.
Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly, RAC data showed that in October and November of last year, retailers had made £184m in those two months alone by not reducing prices in line with the 5p cut.
That’s despite fuel prices generally being very high and the fact the treasury is losing around £5bn per year by continuing with the cut.
Fuel retailers have been under pressure to adopt fair pricing policies instead of the ‘rocket and feather’ strategy they’ve been using to their significant advantage in light of a series of global events.
This was particularly prominent as the Ukraine war started with fuel prices shooting up almost instantly while forecourt prices took an age to reduce despite wholesale costs having decreased months earlier.
And the practice is still very much in place today and can be seen as a result of a series of Houthi Rebel attacks off the coast of Yemen which is playing havoc with the shipping industry and ultimately driving costs up for us.
Retailers have been able to prevent the Conservative Government from introducing legislation to help manage pricing but they are coming under increasing pressure to treat motorists fairly and now need to make prices available online for all to see.