Assembly to debate proposal for fuel duty cut at first sitting next month - Jersey Evening Post

by · Jersey Evening Post

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Assembly to debate proposal for fuel duty cut at first sitting next month

by Tom Innes 18 June 202617 June 2026

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Fuel prices have climbed sharply since the conflict in the Middle East began at the end of February.

FUEL duty could be slashed as part of a bid to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, which was consistently raised throughout the recent election campaign, if the new Assembly agree.

Within ten days of the election, and just three working days after those elected took their oaths of office in the Royal Court, Deputy Lucy Stephenson has lodged a proposition calling for a 10p cut in the excise duty payable on a litre of fuel.

It comes amid mounting calls for the government to address the financial pressures facing Islanders, with fuel duty being one of the few economic levers available to ministers.

In March, the Jersey Consumer Council said that the government stood to profit on GST and fuel duty intake as costs increased and called for emergency measures to help ease the burden on Islanders. Caritas Jersey has also called for fuel duty cuts.

Deputy Stephenson said the move reflected the calls by campaigning groups for action to be taken in the wake of price rises that began in early March, following the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East between Iran and the US on 28 February.

She quoted the JCC in emphasising that fuel prices did not just effect those with vehicles, but all Islanders because of the effect on prices more widely.

Should Deputy Stephenson’s proposal be supported by States Members at their first regular meeting in mid-July, the Treasury Minister would be required to bring changes to the Public Finances Law back to the Assembly in early September, with the duty cut being introduced on 1 October for a period of three months.

In the report accompanying her proposition, Deputy Stephenson said the move reflected the feedback from voters to candidates throughout the election campaign.

“Cost of living pressures was the number one issue highlighted by Islanders at this year’s election,” she said. “It is no longer just those on the lowest incomes struggling to make ends meet, but spiralling costs are impacting Islanders at all ages, stages of life and those earning a seemingly ‘good’ wage.

“We no longer have a temporary cost of living crisis but a sustained, long-term economic and human challenge.”

The newly re-elected representative for St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter, now starting her second term in the Assembly, said she hoped to receive widespread support given the pledges made by “seemingly every single election candidate” to take action on the cost of living.

She added: “Such action would provide immediate relief to the spiralling costs exacerbated by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, reducing the cost of filling up an average family
car with petrol by around £5.

“It would have broad impact but particularly help those who rely on their cars for work, such as delivery drivers, cleaners and carers, and families who rely on vehicles to get children to and from school and activities. It would also help many businesses which use vehicles to transport and deliver goods.”

The report also highlighted fuel duty measures taken by governments in several other jurisdictions including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Swededn, Canada and Australia.

Deputy Stephenson conceded that her proposition had been drawn up as hopes were raised that a peace deal may be agreed, paving the way for oil tankers to be able to resume travelling through the Straits of Hormuz and eventually to a fall in prices.

She said: “Due to ongoing uncertainty, the fact that the deal has just been announced and the much higher costs Islanders have experienced over a number of months, it still feels necessary to lodge this proposition – it can then be debated in light of the global context at the time.”

Details of how to fund the duty cut would be determined by ministers, Deputy Stephenson added. She cited an estimated cost to the public purse of £308,000 per month, although this impact would be reduced, she said, by an increased income from the GST which is payable on fuel purchases.

Fuel duty was frozen for three years as part of efforts to ease cost-of-living pressures. However, the 2026 Budget returned to increasing fuel duty in line with inflation, which resulted in a 2.6% increase this year.

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