LABOUR’S CANDIDATE in the Glenrothes by-election yesterday urged petrol forecourts throughout Fife to cut their prices to benefit hard-pressed families.

Asking Fifers to do their best to shop around to get the lowest prices, Lindsay Roy criticised supermarkets for not passing on savings through falls in the price of oil to drivers at the pumps.

Mr Roy revealed he had uncovered huge disparities between prices now and a year ago, despite the price of a barrel of crude oil being roughly the same.

He also pointed out there are significant differences between prices across a 10-mile radius in Fife.

“With the price of a barrel of oil having dropped so much recently it is time the prices at the pump fell,” Mr Roy said.

“Last year when a barrel of oil was this low pump prices were 96p—so why are pump prices still at £1.07 today?

“Families are losing £276 a year waiting for the price to drop.

“In addition, families can save themselves £145.60 per year if they shop around in Fife, where prices vary from £1.049 to as high as £1.119.

“The only way to force the higher prices down is by seeking out the best deals and I encourage families to use the petrol prices website to get the best deal— www.petrolprices.com.”

Mr Roy visited the Diageo bottling plant in Leven to call for special measures to protect Scotch whisky.

The industry wants laws to protect the brand, labelling and reputation of whisky—and protect jobs.

Mr Roy met Hilary Benn, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, to discuss the issue.