Job cuts could fund diesel price drop says deputy

Key points

• Deputy Neil Inder wants to freeze fuel duty and cut white diesel prices by 5p.
• He says the States could fund this by reducing the civil service.
• Fuel duty is due to rise by 4.3% inflation from 1 January 2027.

A Guernsey deputy has proposed funding a drop in fuel prices by cutting civil servant posts. Deputy Neil Inder said he plans to submit two amendments on fuel costs in relation to the upcoming States budget, citing exceptional circumstances due to global events.

The amendments would freeze fuel duty and cut the pump price of white diesel, used by cars, trucks and buses, by 5p. Asked how the States would pay for this, Inder said it needed to start looking properly at reducing the size of the civil service.

Duty rise due in 2027

Under the 2027 budget, fuel duty is due to increase by inflation of 4.3% from 1 January 2027, raising duty rates to 94.4p per litre. Fuel prices have recently hit record highs across Guernsey, and diesel reached £2.00 per litre in the UK, according to the RAC motoring organisation.

White diesel for regular road vehicles pays the standard fuel duty rate, while red diesel, used in industries such as farming and fishing, is a rebated fuel that is duty-free or heavily reduced.

There's been an unreasonable spike in diesel prices over the last three or four months and it really is set to get worse.

— Deputy Neil Inder

What Inder said

Inder said there had been an unreasonable spike in diesel prices over the last three or four months and that it was set to get worse. He said this would inevitably affect the cost of living.

He said that under normal circumstances he would probably support the P&R proposal to raise duty on diesel, but that the global climate called for greater consideration. He added that the biggest cost to the States is the number of people it employs, and that retiring civil servants should not be replaced.