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New research published by used car buying service ChooseMyCar has revealed that over 90 percent of drivers believe the Chancellor’s reduction on fuel duty has had zero impact on their fuel bill. In response to spiralling fuel costs, Mr Sunak announced a cut to fuel duty by 5p a litre. But UK motorists have found the move has done very little to help, with ChooseMyCar’s Commercial Director Ben Maguire telling Express.co.uk that the move seemed to be more about grabbing headlines than about actually helping people.

Mr Maguire said: “The average tank size in the UK is 50 litres. Right. In the last 12 months, the cost to fill up an average tank has gone up by about £26.

“So then when Rishi puts a five pence per litre deduction on that, that’s about £2.50 off that.

“We’re still down well over £20 per tank.”

Of the 2,000 respondents to the new study, 92 percent of those aged 34-54 found the change had no impact on their bills at all.

Geography also played a role in the impact of the fuel duty cut, with a massive 97 percent of drivers from Northern Ireland reporting no positive impact.

Belfast and Newcastle saw similar figures of 95 percent, while Leeds, Cardiff and Bristol weren’t far behind with 93 percent.

Nottingham and Brighton were the cities which had seen the biggest positive impact on fuel prices, with a lower 85 percent and 86 percent respectively stating that their costs hadn’t been affected by the change.

ChooseMyCar’s founder Nick Zapolski said: “The time has come for more to be done to protect people from inflated costs and shortages over the coming months.”

By looking at the spend for an average UK motorist over a year, Mr Maguire explained in numbers just how little impact the fuel duty cut is having.

He said: “Let’s look at your average Nissan Qashqai driver. The 55-litre tank used to cost £66 pounds to fill up. It now costs around £91.

“The average UK driver does about eight and a half thousand miles a year. So to fill up that tank for a year it’s going to cost you £400 more than it did last year.

“Meanwhile Rishi’s fuel duty cut? That’ll take about £33 off that for the whole year. It’s scarcely a dent.

“It felt to me more like something to put in the headlines as opposed to anything that’s really going to help the average UK motorist.”

Mr Maguire’s comments echoed those of economist Julian Jessop, who told Express.co.uk that the Chancellor’s Spring Statement was “more about politics than economics”.

Mr Maguire added: “If you look at the increase in VAT returns, the government is actually making more on fuel this year than they did last year – even with the 5p duty cut.

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“So though, the motorist is out of pocket, the government isn’t.

“I know there are other areas where the government is losing money. But they could have done more here.”

He went on to call for more support for electric vehicles as a way around the spiralling fuel costs, such as making them less expensive for first-time buyers or providing better support networks in rural areas with charging points.

Mr Maguire added that a way for motorists to mitigate the effects of skyrocketing fuel prices is to make sure to shop around for cheaper deals, rather than just always going to the nearest petrol station.

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