Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Chancellor warned against fuel duty hike

Chancellor George Osborne.
Chancellor George Osborne.

More than 30 MPs from across the political spectrum have joined forces with campaigners to urge the chancellor to reject a “duplicitous” rise in fuel duty after two government ministers failed to rule out the move.

In an open letter to George Osborne before tomorrow’s emergency budget, they warn an inflation-based rise would lower GDP and cost the UK £8billion in reduced economic activity.

Among the signatories are former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, Angus MacNeil, the new chairman of the Commons energy committee, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Stuart Donaldson.

Campaign group FairFuelUK has also published figures from the Centre for Economics and Business Research which estimates the cost to Scotland of increasing fuel duty by inflation over the next five years at £654.5million.

According to the research, the cost to Aberdeen City would be £19.2million, Aberdeenshire £39.4million, Western Isles £2.8million, Highland £37.9million, Moray £10.6million, Orkney £1.9million and Shetland £2.7million.

The letter says: “Even the Treasury has said that the Government’s freeze on duty since 2011 has improved GDP by 0.5% and that ‘low fuel costs are good for the economy’.

“To ignore 37 million drivers, deny the fact we are reliant on a road economy and side-step haversacks of prestigious academic fiscal research will seem arrogant and reckless.

“Before the election this Government trumpeted its policy of keeping fuel costs low to stimulate growth and jobs. A volte-face now will appear duplicitous.

“We urge the chancellor to be fearless and continue to protect the UK’s fragile road-based economy by at least freezing fuel duty in the lifetime of this parliament.

“However he must consider a real cut in this levy, the economist’s preferred choice.”

The Tories froze fuel duty for the whole of the last parliament while in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

However, the Chancellor’s room for manoeuvre on the issue has been restricted by Conservative election promises not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance.

When asked to rule out rises at the petrol pump last month, Exchequer Secretary Damian Hinds insisted “all taxes are kept under review”.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell has also refused to rule out an increase, insisting Mr Osborne had “made no clear statement” about his plans.