Why fuel duty hike in Budget will be end of road for these rural motorists

Should fuel duty be raised in the Budget?

ALAN Gribb (The Yorkshire Post, February 27) must be anti-car when he claims “fuel duty has been cut in real terms for the last 10 years at least...polluting drivers who can afford a car continue to be subsidised”.

As of April 2019, fuel duty has been held for nine years but at 57.95 pence per litre. It is a very significant part of the total cost of both petrol and diesel.

How should Chancellor Rishi Sunak raise revenue in the Budget to pay for road improvements?

It raised an incredible sum of £28bn last year, representing 1.3 per cent of national income.

How can anyone claim that drivers are subsidised when they are such large net contributors to the economy? Many of us live in rural locations and have no choice but to use our cars, and for others the transport infrastructure does not work, even if it exists.

We all are concerned about the climate and the cost of public transport, but targeting car drivers gets us nowhere in finding workable long term solutions. We need our cars and we pay dearly for using them.