Campaigners are advocating for a reduction in fuel duty and VAT on domestic heating oil ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Statement. A think tank and the Countryside Alliance are calling attention to the elevated rates of fuel poverty in rural communities and the additional costs of living in those areas. They are urging the government to take measures to ease the burdens faced by rural people, such as cutting VAT on domestic heating oil to zero and keeping fuel duty frozen at the current level.
The Countryside Alliance also highlighted a 45 percent rise in anxiety among respondents and urged the chancellor to fund ambitious rollouts of rural broadband and infrastructure for electric vehicle adoption. They are seeking support for councils to address problems of littering and fly-tipping. Additionally, OFTEC, a trade organization for the heating and cooking industries, is pressing for a change in fuel duties for renewable liquid fuel.
FairFuel UK has expressed support for these initiatives and has called for the creation of an independent pump price monitoring body named “PumpWatch” to ensure transparency in fuel prices at the pump. The socially conservative think tank, Orthodox Conservatives Group, and researcher Tess Wheldon, emphasized the need for government support for rural farming communities, which they describe as the backbone of Britain.
With mounting pressure to reduce tax and ease the cost of living crisis, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has committed to refraining from actions that could exacerbate inflation in the upcoming Autumn Statement.