Analysis of parliamentary expenses receipts published this week shows that eleven sitting Cabinet ministers collectively claimed £58,589 in car mileage expenses over three years. The claims represent taxpayer-funded contributions toward ministerial petrol costs while those same ministers have declined to act on a 5p-a-litre fuel duty increase due to take effect in September, a rise that will add approximately £3 to the cost of a standard fill-up.
The highest claimant was Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden at £8,766. Wales Secretary Jo Stevens claimed £8,724 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Jonathan Reynolds, who previously served as Business Secretary, claimed £8,717. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed £7,837, Defence Secretary John Healey £6,412, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones claimed nearly £6,000. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is also among the eleven, having claimed just over £2,000 toward her petrol costs.
The expenses are legitimate under parliamentary rules. MPs and ministers are entitled to claim car mileage at HMRC-approved rates for parliamentary duties outside Westminster. No individual claimed anything they were not entitled to claim. That distinction is not preventing critics from drawing the obvious comparison.
Conservative transport spokesman Gareth Bacon framed it directly:
"Claiming nearly £60,000 in taxpayer-funded car expenses while hiking fuel duty for ordinary drivers and refusing to reverse course simply isn't a good look. Labour are taking money out of people's pockets while subsidising their own petrol with public funds."
The September 5p rise, first announced in the Autumn 2025 Budget, reversed a freeze on fuel duty that had been in place since 2022 under the previous Conservative government. The freeze had cost the Treasury an estimated £6 billion annually in foregone revenue. Labour's position is that restoring the planned escalator is fiscally necessary. Chancellor Reeves has not offered any indication the September rise will be paused or reversed.
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The fuel duty row has been running since the Budget and has sharpened considerably with the Iran war driving pump prices sharply higher. MotorBuzz reported in its deep dive on the Iran war's impact on UK pump prices that petrol had risen from 132.83p per litre to 142.62p and diesel from 142.83p to 162.66p since hostilities began. Adding 5p to those already elevated prices in September is being described by motoring groups as badly timed at best.
The broader context makes the timing harder still for the government to defend. Treasury duty and VAT currently account for approximately 55 to 57 per cent of the cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts. When pump prices rise due to global oil market movements, the Treasury collects more in cash terms even before the duty rise takes effect. Reeves has accused fuel retailers of profiteering from the Iran crisis. The Petrol Retailers Association has countered that retail margins rarely exceed 6 per cent and that it is the government's tax take, not the forecourt margin, that dominates the pump price.
The expenses row does not change the policy. The 5p rise will take effect in September unless the government changes course. What it does is place eleven Cabinet ministers in the position of having personally benefited from the fuel cost subsidy system they fund for themselves while removing the duty freeze that benefited everyone else. The mechanism is different, the direction of travel is identical: their petrol has been subsidised by the taxpayer. Yours is about to cost more.
Sources: Mirror / MotorBuzz, 28 March 2026 | HM Treasury Autumn Budget 2025 | UK Parliament expenses registry, IPSA records | MotorBuzz Iran war fuel prices deep dive | Petrol Retailers Association statement, March 2026 | RAC fuel pricing data, March 2026
