'Government blamed for fuel prices'

The nationwide poll, conducted by ICM Research for BBC One's Panorama programme, looked at how motorists have changed their habits in recent months and how the high price of fuel and car taxes will affect the way they vote at the next election.

It found that 38% laid most of the blame for high prices at the pumps at the feet of the Government.

The survey also suggests that over a third of people (35%) in the UK are more likely to vote for a political party which promises to lower car and fuel taxes.

Edmund King, president of The Automobile Association, said: "Normally in politics when it comes to elections, health and education are right up there, rightly so, but you don't hear much about transport.

"But now motoring is becoming much more of an issue. If there are 32 million motorists out there, that's a substantial proportion of the electorate and they could make a real difference in an election."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused of playing politics with petrol prices earlier this month after finally confirming this autumn's planned 2p rise in fuel duty had been scrapped.

The move followed months of pressure on ministers amid soaring oil prices which have been reflected at the pumps.

Angela Eagle, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: "You have to get the balance right. If there's a sudden price spike in oil that is causing real hardship to businesses, families and individuals in the country, then we have a duty as a government to make sure that we can do something about that in the short-term, but we don't lose sight of our medium to long-term goals, which are to re-engineer the way our economy works in order to reduce our carbon footprint, and that is what we are doing."

About a fifth (22%) of respondents to the survey said they thought oil-producing countries were primarily responsible for high fuel prices and 20% blamed oil companies. Just over one in 10 (11%) blamed stock market traders.