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Government meets oil bosses
28 May 2008
Prime minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling will meet oil industry leaders in Scotland today as the government comes under intense pressure to curb soaring fuel prices.
The hastily organised meeting comes after road hauliers converged on London and South Wales to protest about fuel bills. Brown said there was “no easy answer” to rising global oil costs but he is expected to ask energy chiefs to step up the output of oil from Britain’s North Sea fields to compensate.
Across the leading parties, MPs and the public are now pressing the government to delay its controversial 2p increase on fuel duty as the cost of motoring continues to rocket. Oil prices have recently dropped to $127 a barrel, down from a record high of $135 reached last week.
Further pressure is mounting in the Commons for the government to ditch its plans to raise road tax on sports cars and 4x4s. The business secretary John Hutton said that the government must avoid “hammering people”. Meanwhile, Jack Straw indicated that a U-turn on fuel and road tax rises could be in the pipeline for the pre-budget report this autumn.
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