The government has announced it has cancelled a planned increase in fuel duty, which was previously set for September.

The announcement was made as part of chancellor George Osborne’s Budget speech, which also promised a £100 million investment in driverless car technologies.

Mr Osborne said: “I want to help families with the cost of filling up a car. It’s a cost that bears heavily on small businesses too. The last government’s plans for a fuel duty escalator meant taxes would rise above inflation every year.”

However, he claimed that the decrease in global oil prices should be passed onto consumers, and suggested that the freeze could result in a saving of £10 per tank of fuel. Fuel duty accounts for five per cent of the Treasury’s total revenue.

The tax on low-emission company cars is also set to rise more slowly than that of those with traditional engines, which will increase by three per cent.