Think Tank Urges VAT Cut On Heating Oil Amid Rural Fuel Poverty Concerns

Campaigners have called for a slash in fuel duty ahead of the Autumn Statement, while a think tank labelled rural farming communities the ‘backbone’ of Britain.

A tractor cultivates the ground for rapeseed oil crops at the Westons Farm, in Itchingfield, south England, on March 28, 2022. Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

A think tank has called on the government to slash VAT on domestic heating oil, while raising the alarm about “elevated rates of fuel poverty” in rural communities, ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

The Countryside Alliance, which advocates for rural concerns, said in a briefing note on Tuesday that rural households faced a staggering 15.9 percent fuel poverty rate in 2022, with a £956 fuel poverty gap, which is the additional income needed to bring a household to the point of not being fuel poor.