Nigel Farage vows to reverse fuel duty increase in Reform petrol station stunt
The party said it would slash net zero initiatives to save £13 billion a year.
Nigel Farage has staged a petrol station stunt to highlight his pledge to reverse the Government’s planned fuel duty hike by scrapping “lunatic” green levies.
The Reform UK leader announced the policy at a forecourt in Derbyshire where the price board was covered in the party’s turquoise branding with the lettering “Reform Refuel” and “25p off with Farage”, putting a litre of diesel at £1.43 and a litre of unleaded at £1.21.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has resisted calls to cancel the planned 5p increase in fuel duty in response to the oil price spike caused by the Iran conflict.
Speaking at Newhaven services on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: “The way we sneakily do tax in this country means there’s about 6p going on a litre of petrol staged over the course of the next few months. This is just about the last time this should happen. The cost of living is really impacting…
“How are we going to pay for not increasing taxes? Well, we’re going to get rid of lunatic green levies. In particular, I’m thinking about heat pump subsidies.”
A Reform UK government would save £13 billion a year by cutting spending on net zero initiatives, the party’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said.
Mr Jenrick, who recently defected from the Tories, said a Reform government’s first budget would “bring down the cost of fuel by taking at least 5p off the cost of fuel every time you fill up”.
He said: “We’re announcing £13 billion of savings from Ed Miliband’s department, scrapping a lot of the net zero madness that is impoverishing people, de-industrialising our country right now.”
The party would scrap the scheme providing grants to homeowners to install heat pumps, cut investment in carbon capture technologies, and axe grants for new electric vehicles, he said.
Mr Farage also vowed to abolish the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas, something the Labour Government has already signalled it will do.
Oil prices have soared since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran, reaching near four-year-highs above 100 US dollars per barrel on Monday, before falling to 91 dollars a barrel on Tuesday as Donald Trump said the war could soon be over.
Fuel duty has been frozen since 2011, and was cut by 5p in 2022 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
At her budget last year, Ms Reeves said the 5p cut would be unwound between September 2026 and March 2027.
Mr Farage and Mr Jenrick also faced questions about their party’s inconsistent position on whether Britain should back the US’s military action against Iran.
Deputy leader Richard Tice and Reform member and former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi have previously said the UK should join the bombing, while Mr Farage has sent mixed messages.
He told journalists on Tuesday that “if we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war”, and “I would say, it’s no to boots on the ground”.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Reform wanted the UK to go to war in Iran and are now trying to cover up the consequences for British families, including higher fuel prices.
“Reform and the Conservatives have repeatedly tried to block Labour’s budgets which have frozen fuel duty, which is saving money for motorists at the pump.
“This Labour Government is focused on easing the cost of living for families. We’ve frozen rail fares and prescription charges – and we’re taking action to support families with their energy bills.”
Simon Cran-McGreehin, head of analysis at the the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, said: “Unless you want homes to be ever more reliant on foreign gas for heating, you have to switch to electric heat pumps powered by British renewables.
“Adding to the more than 125,000 heat pumps installed in the UK last year can have significantly more impact on how much foreign gas we have to import than more drilling in the North Sea.”
Robert Palmer, deputy director of campaign group Uplift, accused Mr Farage of being a “cheerleader for an oil and gas industry that is making obscene profits at our expense”.
He said: “It’s clear that the only route to lower bills and secure energy is to free ourselves from oil and gas through homegrown renewable energy and upgrading homes, whether that’s with solar panels or heat pumps. This is just common sense in today’s world.
“New North Sea drilling will make no difference to UK energy bills and have no meaningful impact on the UK’s supply of gas.”
