Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls will try to force a vote in the Commons next week to call for another postponement of the Government's planned 3p rise in fuel tax.
The rise - already put off by the Chancellor George Osborne in August at a cost of over £500m - is planned for January but Balls has claimed that "it cannot be right" to increase costs for the public, particular middle and working class families.
In a column for PoliticsHome, Balls writes that: “At a time when the cost of living is rising, our recovery is fragile and this out of touch government is giving 8,000 millionaires a tax cut, it cannot be right to hit middle and low income families and small businesses with another tax increase."
Balls claims it would be wrong for the Government to increase taxes on middle and low income families
“That is why Labour is calling on the Chancellor to cancel January’s planned 3p rise in fuel duty – at least until next April. We will put this to a vote in Parliament on Monday and I hope MPs from all parties will stand up for their constituents and back our call.”
Balls suggests that the Government should crack down on tax avoidance schemes instead of further taxing the public, claiming £1 billion could be hauled in in the process.
The House of Commons Library has predicted that a further delay in raising fuel duty could cost the Government another £350 million.