Chancellor caught in the headlights on fuel prices

George Osborne is getting used to the twice-yearly battle that precedes an autumn statement or a budget when motorists, newspapers and some of his own MPs start haranguing him on fuel. It’s the Times’ splash today, with petrol prices expected to rise to their highest-ever levels, and campaigners calling once again for the Chancellor to cancel September’s fuel duty increase when he makes his Budget statement next month.

As I reported back in January, Tory MPs want this Budget to be another cost-of-living statement, which, like the autumn, allows the Coalition to demonstrate that it is doing all it can to hack away at the major pressures on voters’ wallets. The Sun’s ComRes poll this week found that 39 per cent of voters want the Chancellor to cut petrol prices by 14p a litre, so the pressure is there from voters, too. So another cancellation or delay would be a quick way of Osborne showing he listens to the concerns of hardworking families, striver drivers, or whatever name he wants to give them.