The duty on alcohol will go up 2 per cent at midnight tonight while the duty on tobacco rises 2 per cent at 6pm.
While Darling said he will continue to monitor oil prices, “I expect that fuel duty will increase by 2 pence per litre in September, and then by 1 penny a litre above indexation each April for the next four years”.
He added: “Taken together, these measures will raise over £6bn by 2012 – to secure Britain’s economic future and to provide help for people now when they need it most.”
However, Chris Brown, MD of online holiday company Sunshine.co.uk, has labelled the fuel duty hike a “fun tax”.
He says: “Whilst we can understand that the Chancellor needs to recoup money after bailing out the banks, we are disappointed that he has effectively applied a "fun tax" by increasing the cost of holidays. This comes at a time when the UK population needs a boost and he has effectively squashed any chance of this.”
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