TREASURY officials are pushing Jeremy Hunt to put up fuel duty by at least 2p at the Budget, The Sun can reveal.
The hated levy is due to go up by 12p in April – as last year’s 5p cut expires and the Fuel Duty Escalator will see it hiked automatically by inflation.
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But thanks to the Sun’s Keep It Down campaign, Fuel Duty has been frozen for more than a decade.
The Chancellor is resisting the calls so far but he is struggling to find the £6billion cost of a freeze.
A Treasury source said: “Officials are desperately trying to claw back some cash – and want to put pennies on fuel, if not the full hike due.”
It comes as a new poll shows nearly one in four struggling tradesmen have lost work as soaring fuel and taxes are pricing them out of their vans.
Thousands of hard-working White Van men and women today call on Mr Hunt to axe the hated Transit Tax ahead of their budget.
One in six say the extra charge on drivers, which is due to go up another £72 in April, has hurt their firm, according to polling for trades station, Fix Radio.
In a cry for help ahead of the major fiscal event next month, they say the new tax, ULEZ and congestion charges are hammering them daily and making life a struggle.
And it found that 23 per cent of tradespeople have had to hike their prices in the last year due to the increase in transport costs – and have lost jobs as a result.
