OUT-OF-TOUCH boffins yesterday slammed Rachel Reeves for dodging a fuel duty hike instead of balancing the books.
The Chancellor used her Budget to freeze rates at the pump in a major victory for The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign and Britain’s 37 million motorists.
Out-of-touch Boffins slammed Rachel Reeves for dodging a fuel duty hike instead of balancing the books[/caption]
But the Institute for Fiscal Studies criticised Ms Reeves for dragging her feet on raising fuel duty, saying the Government’s “absurd” habit of delaying hikes is costing Britain billions each year.
The economists warned if she keeps freezing fuel duty, the UK could be £5 billion worse off by the end of this Parliament.
IFS boss Paul Johnson said: “The failure to increase rates of fuel duties in line with inflation, and pretend that it will rise in the future, continues the absurd behaviour of Chancellors past.”
Mr Johnson also accused Ms Reeves of playing “the same silly games” as the Tories by boosting spending now only to let it drop off later in the term.
Day-to-day public spending is set to jump by 4.3 per cent this year and 2.6 per cent next, but after that, it’s expected to crawl at just 1.3 per cent a year from 2026.
The IFS chief said: “I’m afraid, at least on the surface, this looks rather like the same silly games playing we got used to with the last lot – pencil in implausibly low spending increases for the future in order to make the fiscal arithmetic balance.”
The Chancellor froze rates at the pump in a victory for The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign[/caption]
