Rachel Reeves has learned that freezing fuel taxes may be a bad decision, with only some families likely to feel the benefits.

The Chancellor has bucked forecasts of a 7p per liter fuel tax rise by keeping tax rates on petrol and diesel frozen for the 14th year in a row.

The 52.95p tariff maintains the 5p reduction introduced by the Conservatives to help families cope with cost of living crisis in 2022.

However, Stuart Tolley, GEO director at the electric vehicle charging solutions provider Virtasuggested Labor had “failed” to help the majority of motorists with their decision.

He stressed that only the UK’s “richest families” who regularly drive expensive cars will benefit from the move.

They claim this is because those in wealthier households will spend more on fuel throughout the year than those who are struggling to get by.

Addressed exclusively to Express.co.ukStuart said: “The Government has missed a real opportunity to drive change by failing to tackle fuel duty.

“While there is pressure to help families who are still feeling the effects of cost of livingeverything suggests that it is the tenth of the richest families who benefit the most from the freeze on fuel taxes.”

This comes after research from Social Market Foundation suggested an increase in fuel taxes in the budget should have been a “no-brainer”.

Earlier this month, they revealed the policy might not help the “hard-pressed drivers” the idea is supposed to help.

Instead, they seemed to suggest that the idea could be harmful, as only the richest would be likely to benefit from the extra savings.

Their analysis suggests that the richest 10 per cent of households would save £100 more than the lowest incomes in a freeze.

The Social Market Foundation explained: “Our research shows that the richest fifth of households benefited twice as much as the poorest.

“Wealthier households tend to drive more, own more vehicles and buy less fuel-efficient SUVs.

“As a result, the richest 10% of households would save £157 a year if Reeves continued the cuts and freezes, compared to £57 among the poorest.

“Poorer households tend to spend less on fuel taxes. “That’s why, after spending more than £200 billion on various election gimmicks, these cuts and freezes only managed to reduce poverty by 0.3 percent.”