Chancellor Gordon Brown has frozen duties on fuel until 2002 in a move to placate fuel protestors and prevent the blockade of pumping stations and oil refineries which almost brought the UK to a standstill in September.

In this afternoon's pre-Budget statement Mr Brown also cut the price of ultra-low sulphur fuel by 2 pence per litre from Budget day 2001, in addition to a 1p cut introduced on October 1 this year.

The duty on ultra-low sulphur diesel will also be cut in the forthcoming budget by 3p-a-litre.