Motorists could be hit with a hike in fuel duty if Labour gets into power , Harriet Harman has admitted . The deputy Labour leader has refused to rule out above-inflation increases in taxes on fuel , alcohol , tobacco or air fares . Asked if the party would raise the levy on petrol , she told LBC Radio : ‘ We rule out increasing VAT , the basic or the higher rate of tax , we will put up the top rate of tax , we will not put up the national insurance rates . Motorists could be hit with a hike in fuel duty if Labour gets into power , Harriet Harman has admitted . ‘ For all the other taxes that there are – you know , airport taxes , I can ’ t remember what they are called , airport passenger duties , or alcohol duties or tobacco or petrol – we will lay that out in the Budget. ’ Chancellor George Osborne yesterday said the remarks showed Labour would bring back the ‘ fuel duty escalator ’ , which raised the levy by the level of inflation plus 1p per litre , scrapped by the Coalition in 2011 . He said : ‘ Now we know . Ed Miliband will put up taxes on hardworking people . It ’ s clear he is planning to bring back the last Labour government ’ s “ fuel duty escalator ” – the petrol tax that ratcheted up the cost of filling up your tank , all to pay for ever higher spending on welfare and waste . ‘ One by one , we are finding out the £3,028 of tax rises for working families Ed Miliband is planning . He must now come clean and set out what the others are. ’ Miss Harman was asked to rule out raising fuel duty by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan during a women leaders ’ debate on LBC . Chancellor George Osborne yesterday said the remarks showed Labour would bring back the ‘ fuel duty escalator ’ , which raised the levy by the level of inflation plus 1p per litre , scrapped by the Coalition in 2011 . Mrs Morgan said Mr Osborne ’ s freeze in fuel duty , which has been extended for four and a-half years , had saved the average motorist £680 and was one of the Coalition Government ’ s biggest achievements . Fuel duty has been frozen for a fifth year in succession , allowing the Chancellor to boast that motorists have had ‘ £10 off a tank with the Tories ’ . Mr Osborne ’ s announcement in the Budget last month means a 0.54p-per-litre duty rise planned for September 1 will not go ahead . And the freezing of duty over the five years of the Coalition means the average driver spends £10 less per fill-up than if the controversial ‘ fuel-price escalator ’ had been implemented in full . Between 2011 and 2016 , a typical motorist will have saved £675 , the Treasury calculated . The planned fuel duty rise by the RPI rate of inflation on September 2015 would have increased the current duty rate by 0.54p per litre – from the current 57.95p to 58.49p . For an average family car fill-up of 55 litres , this would have increased the cost by 30p . The RAC said the above-inflation fuel duty ‘ escalator ’ that operated between 1993 and 1999 ‘ is the primary reason that we now pay nearly 70 per cent in tax on every litre of fuel we buy at the pumps ’ .
Harriet Harman admitted drivers could be hit if Treasury gets into power . Deputy Treasury leader refused to rule out above-inflation increases on taxes . George Osborne said it shows Treasury will bring back ‘ fuel duty escalator ’