Fuel duty hike criticised by Guardian

The merest suggestion that the Government is considering ending its eight-year freeze on annual fuel duty increases produced predictable outrage from right-wing tabloid newspapers such as The Daily Mail and The Sun but was also criticised by Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff. “Fuel price rises will hurt the worst off – just like other broken Tory promises,” she began. “Those cheering rising fuel taxes on the understandable grounds that reducing mileage could help save the planet need to be honest about how painful this will be for some.

“True, a measure portrayed as helping lower earners through a recession also quietly subsidised millions of drivers who didn’t need it half as much,” Hinsliff added. “But it’s ridiculous to pretend that everyone can now stop making unnecessary car journeys and cheerily take the Tube instead when millions live in places where public transport is either non-existent or expensive and unreliable, and when people on low incomes already think twice about every mile they drive.

“There’s a strong green case for motoring taxes to rise as part of an eco-friendly package including measures to cushion drivers on low incomes,” she observed. “But how does that work if all the money’s going to the NHS?”

The Guardian columnist also hinted that the Government may have an ulterior motive for raising fuel duty, above and beyond providing extra revenue for the NHS. “The nature of driving is changing,” she said. “Fuel sales should tumble over the coming years as people switch to hybrid of electric models, so even if [Chancellor Philip] Hammond just wanted to keep raising the sort of cash Chancellors are used to raising from motorists, never mind raising more, logic suggests that either fuel duty will have to rise or he’ll have to find new and equally unloved ways of taxing drivers, such as charging for road use.”