This report is from this week’s CNBC’s UK Exchange newsletter, which brings you expert insights on the most critical business stories in Britain. You can subscribe here.
Welcome to this week’s CNBC U.K. Exchange. Few issues are more troublesome for the British government than the cost of filling a car. No government has dared overturn a freeze in fuel duty, introduced on a “temporary” basis 15 years ago, which has cost the Treasury tens of billions of pounds in foregone taxes and placed huge pressure on the public finances.
The reason for this reluctance goes back more than a quarter of a century — to a time when some of the current cabinet were still at school.
The sensitivity of American consumers toward higher gasoline prices is well known.
Yet petrol costs matter hugely in Britain too — and pose a problem for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government should the Iran conflict drag on.
