PM rejects call for road tax U-turn

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The Prime Minister also flatly rejected Tory demands to apologise for wrongly saying most drivers would "benefit" from the new scales, which will cost drivers of gas-guzzlers up to £245 a year more by April 2010. In fact 43 per cent of drivers will be worse off.

In the Commons, both Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling came under pressure to retreat on the policy amid concern that poorer families who bought big cars up to seven years ago will be caught out. Shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "Do we have to wait for Heathcliff to come down from Dithering Heights before you abandon this disastrous plan?"

But the Chancellor defended the policy saying: "The crux is this - how do we encourage people to use less energy."

A third of drivers will be better off under the new scales, falling to 20 per cent by 2010. Treasury Minister Angela Eagle said they would be looked at again in the autumn mini-budget.