Brown plea on fuel prices as he tours the Gulf

GORDON Brown today told fuel giants to cut the price of petrol as he prepared to fly to the Gulf on a four-day trip.

The Prime Minister voiced his belief and irritation that firms are dragging their feet in lowering prices at the pump. "The price at the petrol pump is coming down and it should come down faster," he said after meeting business leaders in Edinburgh.

"The oil price trebled and people paid a huge price for that. The oil price has halved and I want people to get the full benefit." Mr Brown, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband are embarking on a tour of the Gulf tomorrow with a delegation of business chiefs.

The Government is keen to encourage investment in Britain from sovereign wealth funds and other institutions from the Gulf, including in nuclear power stations and other renewable energy, though Downing Street insisted Mr Brown was not going "cap in hand". He will, however, urge Gulf nations to use their wealth reserves to help to tackle the global financial crisis.

Barclays today announced a proposal to raise up to £7.3billion to strengthen its balance sheet, with funds coming mainly from the state investment funds and royal families of Qatar and Abu Dhabi. With Britain increasingly dependent on gas, Mr Brown will call for fresh moves to bring order to the oil markets.

"This is our chance to get a stable energy market," he said. "As long as we can show that there are alternatives to oil and that they are going to come on stream, you're going to see a change in the attitude of oil producers."

In Edinburgh, he said HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland had faced "huge problems", and again urged banks to write off their bad debts.

● Lord Mandelson was expected to give the go-ahead for the merger between LloydsTSB and HBOS this afternoon. But there was confusion in government over the announcement and the publication of a report on the issue by the Office of Fair Trading.