Reform piles pressure on fuel duty as diesel hits £2 and Google Maps tool faces “rage bait” backlash
Robert Jenrick demanded Chancellor John Healey “listen to motorists” as diesel reached £2 a litre with the 5p duty cut ending in January, while drivers dismissed Labour's new fuel price tool as inaccurate.
Reform UK is piling pressure on Labour to cut fuel duty after diesel hit £2 a litre, with motorists facing another squeeze in January when the current 5p cut is scrapped.
Robert Jenrick, Reform's Treasury spokesman, said his party would cancel the 5p increase and cut duty even further at the next Budget. “We urge Chancellor John Healey to see sense and listen to motorists,” he said. “Motorists are being battered right now. Tradesmen, carers, mums and dads trying to take their kids to school, HGV drivers. It can't go on.”
The Times reported that diesel hit a record high of more than £2 a litre last week, passing the previous record set in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Petrol is rising too: the average litre of unleaded costs almost £1.75, about 40p more than at the start of the war.
Motorists are being battered right now.Robert Jenrick, Reform UK's Treasury spokesman
According to the AA, diesel now costs 199.98p a litre, meaning about £110 to fill a typical 55-litre tank, while petrol at 174.79p a litre costs about £96.13 for a full tank. Mr Healey said he was concerned about the pressure rising pump prices put on families and businesses.
The duty row comes as Labour's new fuel price tool faces a backlash from drivers. From Thursday, Google Maps and Waze have shown live pump prices at nearby forecourts, using data from the Government's fuel finder scheme, which requires stations to report prices within 30 minutes of a change or face fines. The Government estimates motorists can save an average of £40 a year by shopping around.
Drivers have dismissed the feature as inaccurate “rage bait”, with thousands commenting on a Facebook post from the Prime Minister promoting the tool. Some said it shows only one price rather than separate petrol and diesel figures, while experts warned the underlying data cannot yet be relied upon: the fuel finder covers 97 per cent of stations, and PetrolPrices identified more than 200 stations it believes did not upload prices consistently in September.
Clare Lafferty, commercial director of PetrolPrices, said: “The Government's Fuel Finder data can't yet be relied upon as the sole source for providing a complete picture of UK forecourt prices.”
The minister for energy consumers, Polly Billington, called the tool a “game-changer” for near real-time prices, saying cheaper fuel should be simple to find. Edmund King, president of the AA, called it a “massive step forward” that could encourage more competitive prices.
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