Business Secretary Vince Cable yesterday confirmed the UK Government has been involved in international deliberations over whether to release state-held stockpiles of oil to keep fuel prices down.
Mr Cable told the Federation of Small Businesses the coalition had to “strike a reasonable balance” between getting the Budget deficit down and helping motorists and businesses.
Addressing a delegate who expressed her concern over fuel prices at the conference in Scarborough, he said: “The dilemma the government has got is this – there’s an oil price shock taking place at the moment because of what is happening in the Middle East, the problems around Iran. This is putting up prices.
“We could stop all of it but it’s extremely expensive, we’re trying to manage the Budget down, we’ve got to strike a reasonable balance.
“There was a clamour in the Budget to do all kinds of stuff. We thought the priority should be to help lower and middle-income earners. I hope you’ll understand that a lot of the background is due to events taking place 5,000 miles away.
“The government has a stockpile of oil for emergencies. There have been moves in the last few weeks, which are co-ordinated with the Americans and others, to release some of that stuff into the market to keep prices down. We do realise at the end of the day this is tied up with our future as a country.”
