Ed Davey: Cut fuel duty 10p until Christmas — SkimNews
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- Sir Ed Davey called for an immediate 10p-per-litre fuel duty cut until Christmas, claiming it would drop pump prices by 12p, cost about £2bn over three months, and be self-funding via the energy profits levy, gas taxes, VAT, and fuel duty revenue
- Davey also urged the government to scrap a permanent fuel duty increase scheduled for January and justified the package by blaming high fuel prices on "Trump's mad war with Iran"
- Davey will use Tuesday's conference speech to announce further cost-of-living policies: cutting the bus fare cap from £3 to £1, reducing rail fares by 10%, and removing VAT from public EV charging points
- Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson dismissed the proposal as "conference politics," pointing to Labour's existing fuel duty freeze and its May decision to push back a planned 3p increase
- Davey ruled out scrapping the state pension triple lock after former business secretary Sir Vince Cable called it unsustainable, with party members visibly split in a show of hands over whether to phase it out if the Lib Dems win power
- Chancellor John Healey faces pressure to raise taxes or cut spending at his Budget next month amid soaring government borrowing costs
Why it matters: Chancellor John Healey faces rising borrowing costs and political pressure at his Budget next month, giving the Lib Dems a window to force a fuel duty conversation — but Phillipson's quick pivot to Labour's existing duty freeze and her 'conference politics' framing suggests the Treasury is unlikely to adopt Davey's £2bn cut before the Budget. The split-show-of-hands vote on the triple lock also exposes a live internal fault line Davey must manage.
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