Fuel prices: Business secretary wants review of rising costs

The UK's competition watchdog has been asked to conduct an urgent review into whether a 5p fuel duty cut is being passed on quickly enough to drivers.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has urged the Competition and Markets Authority to examine the fuel market and whether there are local variations in petrol and diesel prices.

The cost of filling an average family car has now hit a record £100.

It comes as the CBI warned households will go into recession later this year.

Pump prices have been rising since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February led to oil supply fears. Last week, the RAC motoring organisation said the cost of filling a 55-litre tank reached £100.27 for petrol and £103.43 for diesel.

In a letter to the CMA, Mr Kwarteng said that despite introducing a fuel duty cut "there remains widespread concern about the pace of the increase in prices at the forecourt and, that prices may not fall as much or as fast as they rise".

As well as looking at whether the duty cut is being passed on to consumers, Mr Kwarteng has also asked the CMA to examine "whether the retail fuel market has adversely affected consumer interests".

This will include investigating whether there are price variations for petrol and diesel at local forecourts.

"Drivers should be getting a fair deal for fuel across the UK," said Mr Kwarteng. "Healthy competition between forecourts is key to achieving this, with competition working to keep pressure on prices."

He has asked for the CMA to report back to him by 7 July.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said while the group welcomed the review, "more urgent action is needed".

"To relieve pressure at the pumps we need an immediate 10p cut to fuel duty. That would help restore some balance ahead of the initial CMA findings due in early July."

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told the BBC: "Once we get the review of that then it will be right to look at what more, if we need to, we can do to help people to make sure it's actually getting to where we want to see that support."

The Petrol Retailers Association has been contacted for comment.

The rate of Inflation - or the cost of living - rose to a 40-year high of 9% in April, with higher energy bills and fuel prices contributing to the increase.

The head of the UK's largest business group warned on Sunday that households will go into recession later this year as people cut spending to combat rising living costs.

Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI, forecast that spending on the High Street and on discretionary items will "go negative" and that Britons were already "trading down".

"It is a well-known behaviour when there's high inflation," Mr Danker told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme. "They're not buying as many discretionary goods or they're buying the cheaper option in the supermarkets."

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has forecast that while the UK will grow by 3.6%, the economy will stagnate at 0% growth in 2023. It will mean the UK will go from the second-fastest growing economy in the G7 group of industrial nations to the slowest.

Mr Danker said: "The only real thing stopping us from having a full-blown recession this year is that at the moment business investment levels are quite high."

A recession is defined as the economy getting smaller for two consecutive quarters.

He said: "The risk is if business investment starts to fall then the whole country could go into recession sooner than some are predicting, ie next year so I think that's why at the moment there's not a lot you can do about household spending when inflation is this high but you do need to stabilise confidence among firms so they don't stop spending too."