Green campaigners Friends of the Earth have said much more needs to be done by Government to transform the way we travel. Instead of backing yesterday’s call by protestors for a fuel price regulator, FoE want an accelerated electric vehicle programme in place.

Andrew Pendleton, Head of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth said: “With oil prices expected to rise further still, cutting fuel duty is not the answer – we need a clean, efficient transport system we can all afford.

“The Government must speed up the introduction of electric vehicles and super fuel-efficient cars – and invest in affordable alternatives such as better buses and trains.”

However, motoring journalist and campaigner Quentin Wilson said fuel duty was damaging the economy and argued a reduction in the duty could in fact improve British lives.

He said: “I went to the Prime Minister and gave him a report that shows that if he reduces fuel duty by 2.5p that actually creates over 100,000 jobs.

“We’ve got the second highest fuel duty in the world and the highest in the Eurozone. It’s costing us jobs, it’s costing us growth, it’s costing us the economy.”