Centre Party breaks with left-green allies to back right-wing fuel tax cuts

Norway’s Centre Party (Sp) will support a right-wing proposal to temporarily cut fuel taxes, breaking ranks with its left-green budget allies, Dagbladet reports.

Speaking to public broadcaster NRK on Thursday morning, party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum confirmed Sp would vote for “all proposals” aimed at reducing fuel duties later the same day. The move aligns Sp with the Conservative Party (Høyre), the Christian Democrats (KrF), and the Progress Party (Frp), which have all tabled motions to suspend road usage taxes on diesel and petrol.

The decision follows failed negotiations among the left-green coalition—comprising Labour, the Centre Party, and the Socialist Left (SV)—which collapsed on Wednesday evening. “We are not planning further meetings tonight,” Sp’s financial policy spokesperson Siv Sætran told reporters after a 30-minute crisis session ended without agreement at 5:20 PM.

Labour will now submit its own motion urging the government to address rising living costs in the revised national budget, but without Sp’s support, it lacks a majority. The party’s parliamentary leader, Tonje Brenna, had earlier confronted Vedum after news broke of Sp’s shift toward the right-wing proposal.

The Green Party (MDG) condemned Sp’s move as “unacceptable,” while left-green partners had pushed to delay fuel tax discussions until the budget revision. On Wednesday, Sp joined Høyre, Frp, and KrF to fast-track the Conservative motion, securing a parliamentary majority for the tax cut plan.