Fuel duty cut extension will benefit richer households just as low-income families find themselves at heart of cost of living crunch 20 May 2026 Responding to the Government’s announcement on fuel duty today, Jonny Marshall, Principal Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The best that can be said of today’s announcement is that the Chancellor’s has wisely ignored calls for an expensive blanket cancellation of the temporary 5p cut to fuel duty. “Nonetheless, even this modest extension will cost £210 million this year. That money could be better spent elsewhere, not least as the real cost of petrol is still lower today than it was pre-Covid. “Come the autumn, low-income families – who are still £1,800 poorer than they were before the last energy price shock – will be worst affected by another round of rising food prices and energy bills. And yet the support announced today will primarily benefit those who are better off, with the richest fifth off households gaining more than twice as much as the poorest fifth. “Over the past 15 years, successive Chancellors have backed off implementing already budgeted for fuel duty rises – the total cost of which has grown to £120 billion. The Chancellor must ensure that this extension doesn’t make that fiscal fiction even worse.”
