The fuel duty measures announced by Keir Starmer today are not what they seem. They’re just a minor postponement of a big tax hike. We were to get a 1p per litre increase on 1 September this year followed by a further 2p per litre on 1 December & then another 2p per litre on 1 March 2027, making a 5p per litre increase in total. So the 1p increase has been delayed by four months and the 2p increase has been delayed by one month. Nothing has been said about the further 2p increase planned for March next year. Inflation uprating will resume in April 2027. The total increase in fuel duty by April next year, including the estimated uprating for RPI will thus be 6.74p per litre. Add VAT of 1.348p to that increase and the total increase in tax will still be 8.08p per litre. Keir Starmer has just thrown us some crumbs in order to get a good headline.