As the General Election gets closer with the pound looking even worse against the dollar and import costs continuing to rise, Lord Mandelson has been attempting to get his opponents to stop making the currency look worse than it is.
Petrol prices in particular are a sore issue for Lord Mandelson, as the poor condition of the pound is causing motorists to face even higher prices at the pumps.
At the moment prices are hovering around a record topping 120p per litre, which is even more than in July of 2008 when there was at least a global explanation for why oil was priced so high.
However, with crude oil now trading at around forty percent less than its 2009 peak of $87 and most countries experiencing less harsh petrol prices compared to Brits, people are starting to wonder just how much the diminished pound may be to blame.
The truth is that the rise of oil is not entirely the fault of the pound, but a large portion of it is, which means that we are being forced to pay almost twice as much because of the conversion from the dollar.
Outside of this factor, consumers are forced to pay more for petrol due to higher taxes as the Government has inched up its petrol duty by another one pence, up to 57.19 per litre, which was the fourth rise in just an eighteen month time period. As if this is not enough, two more increases are slated to come prompting the Forum of Private Business to ask the Chancellor to suspend any future increases.
