Gordon Brown has said the price of petrol at the pumps should be coming down faster.

The Prime Minister said customers should be able to take advantage of the plummeting price of oil.

Addressing a business breakfast in Edinburgh, he said the banking industry can come through the financial crisis, after the multi-billion pound Government bail-out of HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland.

But many people are facing difficulties with their gas and electricity bills because of the price of oil, he added.

Mr Brown said: "The price at the petrol pump is coming down and it should come down faster.

"The oil price trebled and people paid a huge price for that. The oil price has halved and I want people to get the full benefit of that and I want that to be fed through to people."

Mr Brown is due to visit the Gulf States later this month to address the unstable oil price.

Food prices, energy bills and the transport industry are among the areas which suffer a knock-on effect when fuel price rise.

The Prime Minister went on: "More people shaking their heads when they go to a petrol station and find what the price of petrol has gone up to as a result of oil prices.

"Now oil prices are going down and this is our chance to get a stable energy market.

"As long as we can show that there are alternatives to oil and that they are going to come on stream, then I think you're going to see a change in the attitude of oil producers and that's happening in the oil markets."

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