Lib Dems Propose £2bn Three-Month Cut to Fuel Duty
The Liberal Democrats have proposed a £2bn package to cut fuel duty by 10p a litre for three months.
Leader Ed Davey was due to set out the plan in his main speech to the party conference in Brighton on Tuesday The Guardian. The price tag is £2bn. The cut would be temporary, like a sale with a fixed end date.
The same package includes two pledges on public transport. The party proposes cutting the £3 cap on bus fares to £1 and cutting rail fares by 10%. No start date for those parts was given in the conference announcement.
The announcement came from the conference stage. The Liberal Democrats hold 71 MPs, while Restore Britain holds one MP, Rupert Lowe. The BBC published coverage of the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton on 20 September 2026 BBC. Davey also discussed the 10p proposal in an appearance on BBC News.
Fuel duty, the tax added to each litre of petrol and diesel, sits at the centre of the plan. The proposal returns to ground the party set out in the spring. The Liberal Democrats have previously said a 10p cut in duty would lower prices at the pump by 12p per litre Liberal Democrats. Davey described the cut then as part of an emergency transport package to “keep Britain moving.”
That earlier plan also addressed electric vehicle charging. It proposed cutting VAT, the sales tax added to most goods and services, on public charging and reviewing unfair network costs that push up charging prices. The party also said it would table its own motion for an immediate 10p cut and seek to force a vote if the government failed to act Liberal Democrats. At that time, the party called on the Chancellor to bring forward an emergency support package when Parliament returned on Monday to help families affected by “Trump’s war in Iran.”
The current fuel duty rules provide the point of comparison. A temporary reduction first introduced in 2022 was due to expire in September 2026 Reuters. Expiry would have added 5p to fuel prices. In May 2026, the government said it would extend the cut until the end of the year Reuters.
The broader context here is how opposition parties use conference season. A time-limited, clearly priced tax cut gives delegates a single figure to carry out of Brighton. It also gives parliamentary managers a motion to table at Westminster. For a third party with 71 votes, forcing a division can matter more than winning it.
Looking to the months ahead, three questions will test the proposal. The first is duration. A three-month cut creates a cliff edge unless it is extended or replaced. The second is scope. Fuel duty, bus caps and rail fares affect different travellers in different places, and bundling them invites separate scrutiny of cost, delivery and administration. The third is timing. With the existing temporary cut now extended only to the end of the year, any new plan will be judged against what replaces it in January.
