Pump Prices Jump as $100 Oil Squeezes Burnham’s Cost-of-Living Plan
The surge in oil has begun to bite at the forecourt, with petrol rising around 5p to 155.6p a litre and diesel up 8p to 172.1p, according to the RAC, threatening the centrepiece of Andy Burnham’s cost-of-living agenda. The RAC’s Simon Williams said fuel prices were “shooting up like a rocket on the back of oil being above $90”. The Prime Minister spent Thursday promoting cheaper bills even as the war pushed them the other way.
Mr Burnham’s flagship measures — a cut in VAT on domestic electricity from October, a £2 bus-fare cap and lower business rates for pubs — risk being overwhelmed by an energy shock beyond his control. With crude above $100, economists warn it will be hard for the new government to make a meaningful dent in household costs. Forecasters expect the oil spike to push inflation, which fell to 2.6 per cent in June, back above 3 per cent by the autumn, undoing much of the relief ministers have trumpeted. Watch pump prices and the next set of inflation figures.