Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he make an assessment of the effect on the UK road haulage industry in the event that fuel duty was reduced to the (a) level in France, (b) level in Germany and (c) EU27 average; and if he will make a statement.

To support the haulage industry, the government will freeze both fuel duty and HGV VED for a further year from April 2019. As a result of the nine years of fuel duty freezes, by April 2020, the average HGV driver will have saved a cumulative £23,300 compared with the pre-2010 escalator.

Fuel duty and its broader impacts on business and the economy remain under review. However, cuts in fuel duty come at a high cost to the Exchequer and do not necessarily offset pump price volatilities such as oil prices and exchange rates.

Both ministers and officials meet regularly with the road freight industry to discuss a wide range of issues, including taxation and cross-border competition.