Millions of drivers will wake up to £145 bill next week at 'worst possible time'

Millions of drivers are braced for a fuel duty HIKE at the "worst possible time" as cars use more fuel in colder winter months. With clocks going back on October 27, new Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned a fuel duty hike in the Budget would come at the "worst possible time" for drivers.

The Chancellor may increase fuel duty by as much as 7p next week to help fill a £22 bn black hole which she accuses the Conservative Party government of leaving behind. AA President Edmund King warned: “Hiking fuel duty at the onset of winter is the worst possible time to do it.

"It is when cold engines and increased use of heaters, wipers and lights send fuel consumption and costs shooting up." Tory MP Saqib Bhatti also said: “Rachel Reeves has less than two weeks to give certainty to drivers and small businesses up and down the country and end Labour’s war on motorists.”

READ MORE Menorca, Majorca, Ibiza 'mulling over' new ban affecting UK tourists

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation around tax changes outside of fiscal events.” When VAT is added on top, this would mean drivers paying an extra £3.85 per tank, and with the average car needing to be refuelled every eight days, such a rise would mean Labour hits drivers – most of whom are the ‘working people’ it promised to protect from tax rises before the election – with an annual average tax hike of around £175.

FairFuel UK is also submitting a petition signed by over 130,000 people to the Treasury asking for the freeze in fuel duty to be carried over, with the group’s founder, Howard Cox, describing Labour’s planned move as “economic and political suicide”.

The Chancellor was warned that "if she doesn’t act to end the freeze now she will find it much harder to do so later in the parliament".