Overview:
- At 53p a litre, the UK has the eighth highest fuel duty on petrol and the joint highest fuel duty on diesel compared with EU member states. This is higher than Sweden, over 70 per cent more than Germany, and almost double that paid by motorists in Hungary.
- Fuel duty on petrol, without accounting for value added tax (VAT), makes up over 31 per cent of the total price of petrol. This is the seventh largest percentage compared with EU member states.
- Fuel duty on diesel, without accounting for VAT, makes up 29 per cent of the total price of diesel. This is the third largest percentage compared with EU member states. Only Italy, France and Portugal are higher.
- Reducing fuel duty for petrol and diesel in the UK permanently to the EU average excluding the UK would create £18 billion of additional GDP growth, £4 billion more investment and a rise in average weekly earnings of £4 over ten years.
- If the UK permanently cut fuel duty for petrol and diesel from 58p a litre to the level of Hungary which had the lowest duty in the EU, it would result in GDP being £26 billion higher, £6 billion more in investment and average weekly earnings up by £6 over ten years.
- Sweden, which had the same duty on petrol as the UK, cut their duty by 12p a litre this year. The average price of petrol in Sweden is £1.57 a litre. The UK would have to almost quadruple the 5p cut announced in March 2022 to reach the same price of petrol as Sweden.