She said: “Red diesel is the primary fuel to run the majority of agricultural vehicles and is absolutely crucial to farm businesses and maintaining food production. The lower fuel duty on red diesel recognises this fact and, with such uncertainty and rising input costs, it is absolutely essential that the red diesel exemption is maintained.
“Changes to this duty could see farmers face increases of nearly 50p per litre, making us immediately uncompetitive with many countries, including EU member states, the US and Canada, which all provide their agricultural sectors with a lower fuel duty on red diesel.
“Removing this from British farmers would leave them at an immediate competitive disadvantage, coming at a time when farmers are already dealing with ongoing uncertainty over our future trading relationship with the EU and rest of the world.
“While agricultural vehicles have become more efficient, it is impossible for farmers to move away from using red diesel as there are currently no commercially viable alternative fuels.”