Cost of living crisis: Sheffield MP calls for government action on “shameless profiteering of petrol giants”

Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haighcommented on an RAC report that shows petrol prices are not falling in line with wholesale costs.

The motoring organisation found that the average price of petrol fell in July by nearly 9p (8.74p) to 182.69p a litre – but only when price cuts by independent retailers forced the big companies to act.

The RAC said that while big cuts were made, they “still don’t fairly reflect the fall in the wholesale price of fuel, meaning major retailers should be cutting pump prices much further.

“The wholesale cost of petrol delivered to forecourts has fallen for eight consecutive weeks by a whopping 20p from 151.93p at the start of June to 131.75p a litre in the last week of July.

“The last time unleaded was this price on the wholesale market was in early May which a week later led to a UK average pump price of just 167p a litre.”

‘It is a scandal’

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams added: “What ought to have happened is that the biggest retailers cut their prices more significantly on a daily basis, given the wholesale price of petrol has fallen steadily over the last eight weeks.

“Instead, average retailer margin for petrol across the industry has been up around 20p a litre for the last two weeks – more than three times its long-term average.”

Louise Haigh responded: “The Conservative government is too busy tearing themselves apart to tackle the shameless profiteering of petrol giants, hitting working people hard.

“It is a scandal that firms making multi-billion-pound profits refuse to pass on falling costs to hard-pressed motorists. They are being taken for a ride, while this hapless government refuses to lift a finger.

“The Tories promised months ago to take action but are kicking the can down the road – they need to act and put money back in people’s pockets.”

Simon Williams said the best advice was to shop around and not assume that supermarkets will be cheaper than independent retailers.

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