Fuel Duty hike would be ‘direct attack on drivers’, top Tory warns – as Labour refuses to rule out rise in petrol tax

LABOUR would be waging a “direct attack on motorists” if they hike Fuel Duty at the Budget, a top Tory has warned.

Robert Jenrick yesterday vowed to fight any rise in the petrol tax should he win the Conservative leadership contest.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out an increase at the pumps as part of his “painful” series of tax raids coming this autumn.

Speaking at a leadership rally yesterday, ex-Cabinet Minister Mr Jenrick threw his weight behind our Keep It Down campaign to freeze fuel duty and extend the 5p cut.

He said: “I supported The Sun’s campaign at every Budget that I was involved in, and I would support it again in the future.

“Because my Conservative Party is the working people's party, and not everyone in this country can catch a train or the London Underground.

“People need their cars, they need their vans - my dad drove a white van. We need to back those people, and ensure that they can afford the cost of living.

“This is another sign of how out of touch Keir Starmer is. It is a direct attack on motorists, we need to stop. We need to fight it as much as we can.”

Labour’s Commons Leader Lucy Powell yesterday declined to rule out a Fuel Duty hike.

She told LBC: “They are discussions being carried out by the Treasury who will look at how we can do what we said we'd do.

“We are going to deliver on the manifesto promises we said, and the Chancellor will have a Budget designed to do that.”

She also insisted there would be no u-turn on Rachel Reeves’ decision to scrap Winter Fuel Payments for most pensioners.

Ms Powell even claimed “we could have seen a run on the pound” if they had not axed the OAP cold-weather cash because of the size of the black hole.

But Tory shadow minister Laura Trott hit back: “After handing billions in inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters, no one believes Labour’s chicken little strategy.”