Reacting to the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the planned fuel duty rise, announced in his recent Autumn Statement, British Retail Consortium Director General Stephen Robertson said: “No-one can afford to pay more for fuel. Cancelling January’s rise is exactly what we asked for. It will provide much needed support for consumers. It will ease the pressure on household budgets, boost customers’ ability to spend and help hard-pressed retailers contain their transport costs. 

Rebuilding the confidence of customers to spend and retailers to invest and create jobs has to be the Chancellor’s priorities.  This will provide a useful boost.

In the future, the ritual of announcing rises that are later dropped or delayed should end. A clearer more consistent approach would support longer-term decision making.”