IN his April budget, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said that he was not putting up the duty on petrol because of the volatile situation in the Middle East and because of the Iraq War, which had sent oil prices soaring.

However, a Treasury spokesperson has announced that the Chancellor is to put up the price of petrol by more than 1.28p a litre from the beginning of next month, which is more than five pence a gallon.

Only Germany among the major EU countries has higher petrol prices. This is yet another stealth tax and is a further indication that the Chancellor has got his sums wrong.

This Labour government may be better at presentation than previous ones, but in reality it still taxes the British people to the hilt.

COUNCILLOR D PEARSON, Rawstorne Street, Blackburn.