Protests outside British refineries against the nation's sky-high petrol prices wound down today but not before the issue was thrust back into the general election spotlight ahead of the June 7th vote.
Leaders of Britain's main opposition parties promised to freeze or cut fuel duties if elected on Thursday as hundreds of lorry drivers and motorists headed home after peaceful demonstrations at some seven sites around the country.
Speaking in Salford, northwest England, Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair said his government had scrapped some fuel duties and cut others in the last 15 months to try and keep costs down.
But he said he could not control global oil markets.
The world price of oil has gone up, said Mr Blair, taking questions after a briefing on education policy.
Hauliers and farmers led protests and blockades at refineries and depots across Britain last September, halting petrol supplies to filling stations and bringing the country to a virtual standstill.
The opposition Conservative party - lagging heavily in opinion polls - today pledged to meet the demands of protestors and cut taxes on fuel.
"We think they are right to draw attention to the fact that fuel prices are the highest in Europe," the Conservative's foreign affairs spokesman Mr Francis Maude told Sky Television.
Liberal Democrat leader Mr Charles Kennedy suggested a freeze on fuel taxes which now make up 77 per cent of the pump price. He said the taxes make UK fuel among the most expensive in the world.
The nation's most recent fuel protests began on Friday night. A spokeswoman for Fuel Protest 2000 said up to 100 trucks and cars converged on two refineries on the south coast of Wales.
Protestors also gathered in Avonmouth at Bristol, Stanlow in Cheshire, and other refineries and fuel depots in Manchester, Kent, Essex and Birmingham, said David Handley, chairman of the People's Fuel Lobby, a protest group.