Sheffield Chamber of Commerce members have shown their views count.

The government’s further postponement of a planned 2p increase in fuel duty comes after members petitioned for change.

Chamber Chief executive Nigel Tomlinson said: “Many of our members signed a petition back in the Spring to ask for the 2p increase to be scrapped in the last budget.  The Chancellor instead postponed the increase until October - and this has now been postponed again today!

“We had the most signatures of any chamber in the country, when the petition was presented to the government.  I'm pleased that the Chancellor has listened to the concerns of our members and those from other Chambers in the short-term.

“The 2p fuel duty increases no longer serve their original purpose. The high price of fuel is bringing down demand and the revenue expected from the tax hikes has already been generated in the form of a multi-million pound windfall.

"Businesses are being pushed to the absolute edge by the painfully high price of petrol at the pump, with many firms left with no choice but to pass on extra costs to the hard up consumer.

"Clearly, in the current economic environment, this is an unacceptable situation. Postponing autumn's 2p hike is a step in the right direction, but businesses would like to see this needless tax scrapped altogether and therefore we will continue to lobby," added Mr Tomlinson.