Two leading supermarkets are slashing the cost of petrol.

Tesco and Asda have cut up to 3p per litre off fuel prices, sparking a pre-Christmas price war at the pump.

Tesco implemented a 3p price cut at its 500 filling stations on Monday afternoon.

Asda has also introduced a national cap meaning motorists will be charged no more than 110.7p per litre (ppl) for unleaded and 112.7ppl for diesel at its 294 filling stations.

Prices have risen in recent months following a crash in the value of sterling in the wake of the EU referendum.

Motoring firm the RAC claimed that although the reduction in pump prices was “clearly good news”, it has come “far too late” as the wholesale price of fuel has been falling along with oil prices since the end of October.

Simon Williams, the motoring organisation’s fuel spokesman, said: “Retailers should have reduced their prices then rather than making one bigger headline-grabbing cut now.

“This will sadly undermine motorists’ trust in fuel retailers and it’s hard not to see it as them taking advantage of the current climate, which has led people to think that higher fuel prices are an inevitability simply because of the weaker pound and talk of the rising cost of goods.

“In fact there is still scope to reduce pump prices further.”