No plan to use the fuel escalator, insists Brown

Gordon Brown was forced to insist last night that he would not increase fuel duty above the rate of inflation after a minister raised the option during a television interview.

Gordon Brown was forced to insist last night that he would not increase fuel duty above the rate of inflation after a minister raised the option during a television interview.

The Chancellor said he had no plans to bring back the fuel duty escalator under which the cost of petrol automatically rose in excess of inflation with every Budget statement. He ditched the escalator last year.

Mr Brown response came after Michael Meacher, an Environment minister, told ITV that the fuel tax escalator could be re-introduced. "When the oil price is falling or gently rising, yes, there is a role for a fuel duty escalator," he told the Dimbleby programme.

But a spokesman for the Chancellor said: "Michael Meacher was setting out theoretical possibilities in response to a series of theoretical questions. But we abolished the fuel duty escalator in the last Budget and we have no intention of bringing it back."

However, Michael Portillo, the shadow Chancellor, said it was deeply embarrassing that there were mixed policy signals from the Government so near to a pre-Budget report.

"To even contemplate bringing back the fuel duty escalator will only inflame the situation and destroy any residual trust in this government," he said.

Mr Brown's pre-Budget report next month is expected to include important measures to counteract the cost of petrol.