The Budget of 28 October 2026 cancels the plan to add 5p back onto fuel duty from January 2027 and extends the cut to 1 July 2027, the Budget 2026 document on GOV.UK shows, and The Guardian and BBC News report the rise was cancelled.
History. 6 of 8 cases. In 2010 the rise was split into steps, which counts.
Hunch. John Healey himself named the Budget as the place to act on pump prices, and his government already put this rise off once in May.
Resolves on the Budget documents and the Chancellor's speech on gov.uk, checked at 10:00 on 29 October 2026: YES if the fuel duty rise due at the end of 2026 does not come in full on schedule, because it is delayed, cancelled, split into steps or the rate is cut, and NO if the Budget keeps the rise as planned. BBC News and The Guardian are the backup, and the market is void if the Budget moves from 28 October.
We looked for cases where a UK Chancellor had to decide, in a planned Budget or statement, on a fuel duty rise when a rise had already been put off in the past two years. In each, pump prices were within 5% of their highest ever and money was tight. We found eight, from 2010 to 2022. The same Treasury decided all of them, and six were George Osborne's.