As the Guardian has noted this morning:

Petrol could soar to £2.50 a litre, while diesel could hit £3 and may even be rationed, experts told MPs on Monday, as they warned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine spells worsening pain for consumers.

In testimony to the Treasury select committee, leading economics and energy analysts also called on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to subsidise lower-income households to cope with soaring home energy bills, amid a broader cost of living crisis.

The increase is not surprising. If gas prices are doubling, or more, then the possibility that road fuel prices might move in the same direction was always going to be likely.

So let me state the obvious, yet again. This increase does, once more, have little or nothing to do with the increase in the cost of producing fuel. I accept that a few more marginal production facilities might continue in use as a result of new demand for supplies, but the overall increase in production costs of diesel and gas as a result of shortages arising from the war in Ukraine will be very small indeed in the overall scheme of things. In other words, if anyone says that the cost of oil has risen they are not telling the real truth. The cost of oil will only have risen from the end supplier to the petrol station. And that will only be the case because considerable additional profit will have been made by someone prior to that penultimate supply before you buy the oil, with that profit happening somewhere between the well and the final distribution costs being charged. There is as much exploitation going on here as there is in the worldwide gas market.

Then let me suggest that these price rises are not required, at least to anything like the extent suggested. Something like 55% of fuel prices were, until very recently, made up of duty and VAT. Increase the price of fuel and keep this percentage fixed and very obviously the take by HM Treasury rises substantially.

So, ignoring all measures to be taken to tackle oil price specualtio0n, the real question is, why do those charges need to be fixed if inflation is such a priority? Why can't the tax rate be changed instead so that revenues are constant but prices are at least reduced in part?

This is a question the Treasury has to answer.

So far I hear no discussion of the issue.

Long term, of course, we need consumption of these fuels to drop. But it has to be managed better than this.