Coalition rebels join cross-party fight to scrap 3p fuel tax rise

The coalition government is facing pressure to scrap the 3p rise in fuel tax later this year, with rebel Conservative and Liberal Democrat backbenchers joining calls for a climbdown.

The SNP has lodged an amendment to the Budget at Westminster which has also attracted support from the Welsh nationalists, Northern Ireland parties and Respect’s George Galloway.

Campaign group FairFuelUK is also backing the move.

The SNP’s Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said: “The level of cross-party support for this clause is astonishing and reflects the mood across the country that fuel prices must be brought under control.”

Tory MPs Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) and Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) are backing the call for their party colleague and Chancellor George Osborne to ditch the rise, along with Lib Dem Mike Hancock and three Labour MPs.

Mr Hosie added: “The lack of action on fuel prices was one of the biggest issues missing in the Chancellor’s Budget. High costs of fuel aren’t just hurting the pockets of hard-pressed householders across the UK, they are hammering businesses and hampering economic recovery.

“We already have the highest rates of taxes on petrol and diesel in Europe – it’s time to end this highway robbery and call a halt to further rises which will hamper economic recovery.”

The MPs backing the clause come from nine political parties with one independent.

Quentin Willson, national spokesman for FairFuelUK, said: “Now’s the time to show that parliament really can join together and stand up for the greater good.

“The cost of fuel is one of this country’s most pressing social issues.

“We’re calling on all MPs to show the hard-working people and businesses of Britain that they understand and care about this vital issue.”

A Treasury spokeswoman said: “The government has taken real action to help households with the cost of motoring, delivering support worth more than £4 billion.

“At the autumn statement we froze fuel duty until August and scrapped another planned rise altogether. This came after our decision to cut fuel duty at Budget 2011, abolish the fuel duty escalator and replace it with a fair fuel stabiliser.

“Petrol and diesel will be an average of 10p per litre cheaper than if we had proceeded with the escalator previously announced in 2009.

“But we have always been clear that decisions on the public finances must support the government’s priority of reducing the deficit in a sustainable way.”

The move has already come under fire from the AA, with the organisation insisting it will force motorists off the road.

Mr Osborne said fuel duty would not rise faster than inflation, unless oil prices were to fall below £45 a barrel, well below crude oil’s current market price of about $125 (£79) a barrel.