Chancellor admits his hands are tied on fuel price rises

Rhetoric: just yesterday the Chancellor presented an apparently tough and proactive approach to the economy, yet he has already said there is little he can do when it comes to fuel prices

11 April 2012

George Osborne today admitted he cannot stop oil companies putting up the price of fuel despite the duty cut announced in his budget.

But the Chancellor said he would be watching "like a hawk" to make sure there was "no funny business".

Mr Osborne lopped 1p a litre off fuel duty in yesterday's budget and introduced a Fair Fuel Stabiliser, funded by £2 billion of new taxes on the windfall profits of oil companies due to record global prices.

He told ITV's Daybreak: "We will be watching like a hawk to make sure that motorists get the benefit of the budget changes and make sure that there's no funny business."

Asked if there was a mechanism to stop the oil companies putting prices up, he said: "I'm not in control of the world's oil price unfortunately.
"What I am in control of are the taxes that go onto oil in Britain, in other words the duty that gets levied at the petrol station."

He continued: "I'm not pretending that this is going to transform the situation over night for families who are feeling the squeeze, but it helps."