Fuel Duty. Smoke and mirrors again!

The Chancellor failed to mention that, in addition to the 1.0 ppl duty increase from 1 April, he has already taken measures to claw back a duty incentive provided to the refiners for biofuels production. This latter measure will result in an increase to the cost of product by up to 1.0 ppl also from 1 April.

Thus the real increase to the motorist at the pump will be 2.0 ppl plus the VAT multiplier equating to around 2.35 ppl – some 135% more than might have been perceived from his speech to the House.

This size of increase does not sit well with his promise that “this is a Budget to secure recovery...” especially with further duty increases now advised for 1 October 2010 and 1 January 2011.