As petrol and diesel prices continue on their upward trend breaking new records each week, UK MPs are asking the government to take more decisive action to help drivers.

The 5pm cut in fuel duty appears to have had little impact on forecourt prices, and list week’s announcement that there would be a windfall tax on fuel and energy providers only seems to have bumped petrol prices even higher. But a debate in the House of Commons last week has suggested more drastic measures, including chopping fuel duty by 40 per cent.

The debate came about after more than 100,000 people signed a petition for a reduction on fuel duty, which meant that MPs had to debate the matter. Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower in Wales suggested that the government has not done enough.

“The AA has calculated that the cost of filling a typical 55-litre tank has risen during the year from £70.61 to £92.20 for petrol and from £71.94 to £99.48 for diesel," she said.

"There has been the most derisory of efforts to help drivers. For me, that's symptomatic of a government who have no idea about the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on people across the country – rising home energy prices, food prices rocketing and the cost of fuel at a record high."

The industry organisation which represents many of of the petrol stations has said that the 5p fuel duty cut was implemented, but has been absorbed by their own increased costs.

"Forecourts have passed on this cut; consumers haven't felt it at the pumps because prices have since risen. Forecourts have also had to contend with recent cost-of-living increases, such as increases in electricity costs and in the national minimum wage,” a statement from the Petrol Retailers Association said.

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