Logistics UK responds to the Budget: fuel duty freeze welcomed by logistics sector

Speaking in response to today’s (30 October 2024) Budget announcement, David Wells OBE, Chief Executive of business group Logistics UK said:

“The Chancellor’s decision to freeze fuel duty for a further year is welcome news for the logistics sector. Nothing moves without logistics: the sector supplies our hospitals, schools, factories, shops and homes with everything they need, everywhere, every day. The sector is vital to any plans to stimulate growth across the economy, and this respite is welcome news for a sector already seeing increasing business failures over the last year.

“The sector operates on very narrow margins – often only 2.5% – with fuel representing a large proportion of the weekly operating cost for hauliers.

“Logistics powers every part of the UK’s economy – it is the UK’s system for growth – and today’s announcement should drive confidence in our sector’s ability to deliver for its customers. with confidence.”

Logistics UK is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With decarbonisation, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.