More warnings for Labour

Two interesting articles in the papers this morning.

It's Friday and therefore Polly Toynbee issues another warning to the Labour party

As times get tougher people will get angrier, and the "whose side are you on?" questions will matter more. If, by the time you read this, Labour has lost Crewe, it will signify a great switch of white working-class voters - and it is that flight, not the rich, that Labour should really have been fearing all these last years.

In the Independent,Dominic Lawson warns the government that it mustn't start blaming the problems on the price of oil,something re iterated by Harriet Harman this morning.

Instead he reminds the government of its tax policies

The level of fuel duty and VAT is clearly stated on every gas station forecourt in the land – and we all know who is responsible for that.

and reminding us that back in 2005, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah,OPEC's then president

pointed out that the British Exchequer was taxing fuel at a rate of 75 per cent

This morning's Express stages day 2 of the great fuel swindle reporting that

FUEL duty could be slashed by 12p a litre in the wake of the Government’s tax windfall from soaring oil prices, experts said last night.
A cut would bring much-needed relief to motorists suffering record prices at the pumps.
Petrol and diesel prices are set to go even higher after crude oil yesterday hit 135 dollars a barrel on the wholesale market.