Budget freeze on fuel duty in Guernsey

Thursday, 5 November 2026 at 08:50

By Euan Mahy

Fuel duty will be frozen for 2027 after deputies rejected Policy and Resources' planned 4.3% rise.

A small majority of Guernsey's States members have agreed to freeze the duty on petrol, gas oil and marine fuel at the current rates.

Policy and Resources had proposed an inflation-linked increase of 4.3% from 1 January, adding around 4p per litre at the pumps to petrol.

Deputy Lee van Katwyk brought the Budget amendment against the duty increase, which would have raised an extra £900,000 for the public purse.

"I know that in my talks with Guernsey people, they don’t feel like they’re getting anything from this budget.

"We are more expensive than Jersey in tax and fuel and we’re more expensive than the Isle of Man and more expensive than UK, and they have VAT on top of the duty, so this is about being pragmatic, being realistic and giving something to the people of Guernsey in this budget."

Elsewhere, two bids for extra funding from Home Affairs and Health were voted down.

Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater had argued that Law Enforcement needed the money to train officers to tackle increasingly sophisticated cyber crime. He also warned that front line services, including police, fire, prison and the emergency response centre will suffer as result of not getting extra funding.

"These pressures are not unique to Guernsey, and like our committee for Home Affairs, Jersey and Isle of Man recognise that maintaining public safety requires additional resources at this point."

Health president George Oswald argued for an extra £3.1M for the committee and ££M from the reserve to fund off island care. Neither was accepted.

Although these amendments have either been agreed or rejected, they still face a final vote when the amended budget as a whole is put before the Assembly.

Given the amount of business left to get through, deputies did agree to limit speeches to six minutes, or nine when introducing an amendment. They have also agreed to sit longer.