Mr. Halfon appealed to the Minister of Transport Grant Shapps to create a new control body to regulate prices. Since the beginning of June, the price of Brent oil is down 19 percent in sterling and 22 percent in US dollars. Over the same six-week period, there was a 15 percent drop in wholesale gasoline costs and a four percent drop in bulk diesel purchases.
However, an analysis by watchdog FairFuelUK found that none of these cuts have been passed on to Britain’s heavy-duty motorists, with pump prices rising 9% for petrol and 8% for diesel.
Mr Halfon, MP for Harlow in Essex, said: “How on earth can pump prices skyrocket when wholesale and oil costs plummet?”
Referring to the founder of FairFuelUK, he added: “This perpetual looting of hard-working drivers must be stopped. Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps must be created immediately, mine and Howard Cox have long advocated PumpWatch, a proposed independent body for monitoring pump prices.
“These greedy oil companies need to explain why they continue to rob low-income families, small businesses and the transportation sector at will.” A few garages were finally showing what pump prices should be, Cox noted.
For example, a Shell garage in Newton Abbot and a Texaco garage in Manchester now display petrol prices of 164.9 pence and 169.9 pence respectively and still make profits of 11 pence and 16 pence per liter respectively at current wholesale prices.
He added: “The welcome low pump prices in the Newton Abbott Shell garage show how corrupt the fuel supply still is.
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Referring to the competition regulator, the Competition & Markets Authority, Mr Cox added: “The CMA will be in breach of its duty to UK consumers if they fail to recognize from their latest investigation the disgusting blatant chronic opportunistic pursuit of profit, and then do nothing to impose severe penalties against greedy companies in the fuel supply chain that fail to pass large wholesale traps to their gas stations. Ironically, retailers seem to be screwed by these companies, just like drivers.
And above all, the new Prime Minister must introduce a pump price watchdog, which MP Robert Halfon and I have long called for. To finally bring fairness, transparency and fairness to the cost of refueling.
“This independent consumer price protection agency, PumpWatch, is now even more than essential.”
If former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and successor Nadhim Zahawi had followed Germany’s lead in cutting fuel taxes by 25 cents per liter to help ease the pain of the cost of living crisis, petrol and diesel would be priced at between 20 and 30 cents per liter. be lower, according to FuelWatchUK.
The German cartel agency said today that it had been investigating the difference between crude oil prices, refinery sales prices and gas station prices since May, but had not yet drawn any conclusions as to whether it had any basis for taking action.
Germany has introduced a petrol discount for June, July and August to help motorists cope with rising prices as part of emergency measures in response to the rising cost of living, but persistently high prices have led to accusations of price increase by the oil industry.
A spokesperson for the cartel agency said it had investigated the price differences but had not drawn any conclusions.
A spokesperson said: “At this stage, however, we cannot make any statements about the actual profit margins or the passing on of the petrol discount.
“The results (of this sector inquiry) can provide us with a starting point for tackling possible violations of antitrust law in a targeted manner.”