A prominent group of Conservative MPs representing traditionally Labour-held seats in the north of England, the Midlands and Wales have called on Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, to avoid increasing fuel duty in next month’s Budget.
Fuel duty has been frozen since the Tories returned to power in 2010. But there are reports that Downing Street is considering scrapping the freeze, which could produce an extra £4bn of tax revenue. Senior Tories think Mr Sunak could announce a review of the freeze on March 11, paving the way for it to be scrapped in a future Budget.
The Blue Collar Conservatism caucus, representing several Tories elected for the first time in December’s election, warned that scrapping the fuel duty freeze would hit “our blue collar communities the hardest” and would indicate that the Johnson government “does not actually have, at its heart, the priorities of the people”.
The decision over fuel duty will be an early test of Mr Johnson’s commitment to seats won by the Tories for the first time last year. During the election campaign, he pledged to maintain the status quo. “We don’t want to raise fuel duty, I have absolutely no intention to raise fuel duty,” he said.
But one prominent Tory said the spending demands by Downing Street and environmental concerns could have changed the prime minister’s mind. “They’ve got so much money they want to spend on other things, they’re just piling it on — [Jeremy] Corbyn would be delighted — so they need tax rises to fund it,” the MP said.
In a letter to Mr Sunak, representatives of the Blue Collar group, which is thought to number around 100 MPs, said: “If the decision was taken to raise taxes on fuel, hard-working people and businesses in blue collar communities — many of which lent us their support at the general election for the first time in generations — will suffer.
“Many towns and villages across the country — particularly in rural areas — severely lack the necessary local transport infrastructure to accommodate this change to the market. Hardworking people in these areas rely on their vehicles to get on in their everyday lives and to provide for their families. The Conservative party should be supporting these people, not setting them back.”
The letter was signed by 18 MPs from the group,including 14 elected to parliament for the first time last year. Signatories including Dehenna Davidson, MP for Bishop Auckland, Paul Howell in Sedgefield, Ashfield’s Lee Anderson, Rob Roberts in Delyn and Marco Longhi in Dudley North.
Conservatives representing northern constituencies said there was a sense that the freeze may be protected in this Budget but not in the future. “I don’t think it’ll go up this year, but I worry about the next,” said one. Another said they had received a “strong indication” from the Treasury that there would be a review. The Treasury declined to comment on the contents of the Budget.
But another MP said: “There is a school of thought that these things need to be reviewed. It has been in place for a very long time. We all appreciate that the environment, carbon concerns and that direction of travel puts a slightly different complexion on things than say 10-15 years ago.”
