Brown urges petrol price cut

Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged British retailers yesterday to cut petrol prices to reflect the drop in the oil price.

Mr Brown also said that, despite the halving of the oil price from a high of $147 a barrel in July to under $74 for US crude yesterday, oil prices were "still too high".

Mr Brown said he would like to see other retailers follow the lead of two supermarket chains which have cut the petrol price to just below one pound a litre, from a peak of £1.18.

"The public know that when oil prices go up, it's reflected very quickly in the petrol pump price. What they want to know is that when oil prices come down that is also reflected in the pump price," he told a news conference after an EU summit.

"I want to see the competition between supermarkets and oil companies reflected in lower prices at the pumps," he said.

"Over these next few days we'll be monitoring what's happening but I expect other companies to follow the lead that has been taken by two supermarkets in the last days," he said.

High energy prices have fuelled British inflation which hit a 16-year high of 5.2 per cent in September. Many economists believe British inflation has now peaked.

BP and supermarket chains Asda, owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc , and WM Morrison have cut their petrol price to 99.9 pence a litre, according to press reports.

Voters' anger over high energy and food prices has cost Mr Brown's government support, leaving it lagging the opposition Conservatives in the opinion polls.

Mr Brown also said that there was too much variation in petrol prices across Britain.

"In some areas, the petrol price is still as high as £1.20 per litre, that must change," he said.

Meanwhile Mr Brown brushed aside suggestions yesterday that the popularity boost he has gained from his handling of the financial crisis might tempt him to call a snap general election.

"I'm getting on with the job of trying to take us through these difficult times and that's the only thing that's in my mind. It's got my undivided attention and the whole attention of the government," Mr Brown told a news conference after the EU summit when asked if he was tempted to go to the polls.

Mr Brown has won acclaim abroad and a lift to his battered popularity at home for his sweeping plans to combat the global credit crunch that brought the banking system to the verge of collapse.

Mr Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister in June last year after 10 years as finance minister, has endured a difficult few months since he appeared to back away from calling an early election last year.

His initial popularity soon faded as the economic outlook darkened, with voters feeling the pinch from rising food and energy prices and falling house prices.