Fuel duty across the UK will be cut by 5p/L, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak confirmed in his spring statement today (Wednesday, March 25).
The cut will apply for a period of 12 months and will come into effect from 6:00p.m this evening.
Worth £2.4 billion, this is the biggest cut ever on all fuel duty rates and means a one-car family will now save on average £100; the average van driver will save £200; and the average haulier will save £1,500.
This cut, and other tax cuts announced today, is an effort to ease the cost of living across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Other measures announced include raising the National Insurance starting thresholds to £12,570 from July. The cut, worth over £6 billion, will benefit almost 30 million working people with a typical employee saving over £330 in the year from July.
The Chancellor also announced plans to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p from 2024 and that there will be an extra £500 million for the Household Support Fund, which doubles its total amount to £1 billion.
The basic rate cut applies only to Wales, England and Northern Ireland. Income tax rates are devolved in Scotland but, as set out in the agreed Fiscal Framework, the Scottish Government’s funding is automatically increased as a result of this tax cut in order to benefit people in Scotland. This is initially worth £350 million in 2024-25.
Delivering the Spring Statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:
“This statement puts billions back into the pockets of people across the UK and delivers the biggest net cut to personal taxes in over a quarter of a century.
“Like our actions against Russia, I have been able to do this because of our strong economy and the difficult but responsible decisions I have had to make to rebuild our finances following the pandemic.
“Cutting taxes means people have immediate help with the rising cost of living, businesses have better conditions to invest and grow tomorrow, and people keep more of what they earn for years to come.”
