Ross Clark Ross Clark

Soaring fuel prices could be lethal for Boris Johnson

A petrol pump on the M25 (Credit: Getty images)

As if Boris Johnson was not in enough political trouble already, the latest surge in oil prices is threatening to overwhelm the government. This week, petrol prices in some filling stations have crossed the symbolic threshold of £2 per litre. This would be a problem for any government, but, for a Conservative administration which owes its last election victory to the votes of relatively low-paid manual workers, it is an existential threat. 

People who rely on their cars to get to work face being priced out of the workplace. Decades of sky-high property prices – and high moving costs thanks especially to stamp duty – have changed the pattern of living and working. There are large numbers of voters who must drive long distances to reach their place of work. If you are a teacher, nurse, carer or factory worker, you have no option of working from home. Moreover, outside London, public transport is often of little use – and it is going to be deeply affected everywhere by strikes over the next few weeks. High petrol prices are a bomb which has landed right in the heart of the former Red Wall.

High petrol prices are a bomb which has landed right in the heart of the former Red Wall.

But there is another aspect of this crisis which is especially harmful to Boris Johnson. During the Brexit referendum he promised that one of the benefits of leaving the EU would be the ability of Britain to drop the 5p VAT on domestic heating bills. Not only has he refused to keep this promise – and at a time when keeping it would have been especially helpful to households – but he is failing to follow the example of many EU countries which have introduced emergency cuts in road fuel duties, beyond the 5p cut in the spring statement.

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