Fuel Duty

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister. I call the shadow Secretary of State.

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[Mr Holden]

My right hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. The Government are forgoing tax revenue that is going into the coffers of other Treasuries right across Europe and across the world, but why? To what end? We will see whether Ministers will answer why they are willing to forgo hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds every year. [Interruption.] They could spend that on anything they wanted to, and they are not even going to do it.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Parliamentary Private Secretaries are not there to chirp all the way through and give solutions to a problem. I have great confidence in the Minister’s ability to answer when he comes to speak.

[Mr Holden]

I thank you, Mr Speaker, for reminding the hon. Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) of his role.

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[Mr Holden]

I am sorry, but I need to make a little more progress, but I will happily come back to my hon. Friend later.

However we travel, Labour is after us. Is it a boat? Is it a train? Is it a plane? No, it is Labour’s taxman coming for us. And where will this money be spent—all the extra money from Labour’s taxes on the public? It will not be spent on hard-working families or to create jobs and boost opportunities; it will be frittered away on more welfare, because this Prime Minister and this Government Front Bench are too weak to stand up to their own Back Benchers and ensure that welfare is kept under control. They are picking the pockets of hard-working people to pay for those who choose not to work.

When it comes to paying at the pump, Rachel Reeves has been happy to try to lay the blame at the feet of the petrol stations, but what makes up most of the cost of a litre of petrol? Her fuel duty is by far the biggest chunk. In fact, taxes make up 55% of the cost of fuel, and it is going up under Labour. When the Energy Secretary was presented with these sickening statistics, he claimed:

“That’s why we’ve frozen fuel duty.”

Why on earth do the Government not do what we did by freezing it all the way through? They could do it today, but they are not going to do it because they are too afraid of their own Back Benchers when it comes to welfare. I am surprised that Members are aligning themselves with the spluttering spinelessness of Mr Miliband—I am sorry; I mean the right hon. Member for Doncaster North. We know that for her and Ed, when the facts change, when countries all around the world change, Labour just digs in.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. You have referred to “Rachel Reeves”, but she is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not think that “Ed” is quite the right title either, and I know that you would not want to get that wrong.

[Mr Holden]

Of course not, Mr Speaker. The right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Ed Miliband) should always be given his proper title.

This is very similar to the Government’s pathetic intransigence when it comes to the zero emission vehicle mandate. They remain entirely aloof, soldiering on, whatever the cost is to British companies, British workers and British taxpayers. This is just like the electric car mandate, with its impact on industry. The unions—Labour’s own paymasters, for crying out loud—the Financial Times, and even the renewables sector: everyone knows that we must have a change in the electric vehicle mandate. Everyone on the Opposition side of the House also backs driving ahead with North sea oil and gas exploration, but what do the Labour Government do? They just bury their heads in the sand and turn to taxation instead in order to pay for their policies.

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[Mr Holden]

I will give way.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Stuart, can you make a better effort than just waving your hand? You are not at a taxi rank. Is the shadow Secretary of State giving way to Mr Stuart? There you are, Mr Stuart: he is giving way to you. If you get off the seat, it might help.

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[Torsten Bell]

As I have said, oil and gas will be with us for some time. [Interruption.] Let me finish. That is why the Chancellor met the sector. [Interruption.] I hear all the chuntering from Opposition Members, but I did not hear as much chuntering when we saw a 70% fall in jobs in the North sea on their watch. [Interruption.] That is the truth of what you delivered. Now, on top of that, you are trying to double down. The Conservative party is doubling down on opposing investment in renewable energy, threatening those jobs. The Labour party believes in domestic energy security delivered by a range of sources, including the nuclear that the Conservatives failed to invest in.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister has been saying “you”, but I am not responsible for these things; I would not want that responsibility.

[Simon Hoare]

We see you as responsible for everything, Mr Speaker!

The Minister was clearly right to point out the inflationary cost pressures as a result of the Iranian situation. He might be reminded that the announcement the Chancellor made on the increase in fuel duty predates that situation. Were it not to have been made, and given the impact that we are seeing on, among other things, fuel costs from Iran, would he and the Chancellor be thinking that now is a good time to make an announcement about increasing fuel duty? The world has changed and surely this policy should change as well to reflect the immediacy of the situation.