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Fuel Duty

I am going to make a little progress. As usual this year, the Government have dithered and prevaricated over the 2p rise originally scheduled for April, then postponed until October, and now off the table in July. Who knows what would have happened if it were not for the by-election? We had a nod from the Prime Minister at the Liaison Committee on 3 July when he said that"““you will find that in most years since 2000 that the duty has actually been frozen…it is clearly a matter that will be looked at very, very carefully over the next few weeks.””" There was a wink from the Chancellor on 28 May when he said:"““I intend to come back to the issue of the fuel tax increase that would be due this October.””" That is not a sustainable way to make tax policy. Instead of a clear formula based on transparent principles that people can understand, it is an ad hoc system driven by the political convenience of the Prime Minister rather than by sound economics.