Cameron “presiding over a shambles” on petrol, says Miliband

Ed Miliband has attacked the PM for governing in “crude party interest”, after a day of escalating, government fuelled panic over petrol (including some shocking newspaper headlines for the Government), Miliband’s statement is below:

“The Prime Minister is presiding over a shambles on petrol. The country is paying the price for the incompetent way he is governing. In a delicate situation which demanded statesmanship the Government showed partisanship.”

“They made a crude decision to play politics with petrol without regard for the consequence.”

“Being able to fill your car up or worrying about how you will get to work is not something that should be subject to political games. This is real life and Ministers are out of touch with people sitting in queues as a result of their incompetence. Now the Prime Minister needs to get a grip and calm the situation.”

“Strikes should be avoided at all costs. That means getting both sides negotiating through ACAS today. Then David Cameron and Francis Maude should apologise to the country for the way they have handled this situation. And David Cameron should understand the lesson of this week: that he should start governing in the national interest not crude party interest.”