SIR Keir Starmer has ducked calls to freeze fuel duty as new figures show households are shelling out nearly £2,000 a year in motoring taxes.
The Prime Minister announced in a pre-Budget speech the bus fare cap in England will rise to £3.
But when asked by the Sun to give a commitment to keep fuel duty frozen, Sir Keir dodged the question.
He said: “I am not going to pre-empt what happens on Wednesday.
“But obviously this is an issue that comes up at every Budget and you will see how we deal with it at this Budget.”
Sir Keir, however, insisted he appreciated “how important” keeping pump prices low were to Sun readers.
His comments come as new figures by the AA show private motorists are contributing more than £43bn in tax to the Treasury – even before Wednesday’s Budget.
The breakdown includes £9.15 billion in fuel duty, £6.75 billion in Vehicle Excise Duty, £4.1 billion in Insurance Premium Tax, and a staggering £23 billion in VAT on motoring expenses
A 3p fuel duty rise would add another £518 million to Treasury coffers, piling even more pressure on drivers, according to the motoring group.
AA’s President Edmund King said: “Motoring taxation is a muddy exercise that hides the true extent of the tax burden on car owners.
“Only when you tot up the impact of the four main elements (fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, insurance premium tax and VAT on motoring goods and services) does the true burden on the private motorist become clear.
“But that doesn’t cover what might be called the secondary impact on consumers of motoring taxation. That relates to business motoring and is passed on to the consumer in the cost of goods and services.
“We can’t be sure what the Budget on Wednesday holds for drivers, but we can be sure that the motoring tax burden on car-owning households is already massive.”
The Sun has backed drivers as part of the Keep It Down campaign with FairFuelUK, with rates of fuel duty not rising since the start of 2011.
But speculation is mounting Rachel Reeves will reverse the 5p cut and reinstate an inflationary increase next week.
This could add £3.85 to the cost of filling up an average family car.
