Deal signed on fuel supplies

The agreement should prevent more queues

Oil companies, unions and police chiefs have signed an agreement aimed at securing essential fuel supplies in the event of further blockades.

We... will do all we can to minimise future disruption

Malcolm Brinded, chairman of Shell UK

The memorandum, drawn up by the government's fuel supply task force, commits members to work together to ensure normal supplies of oil.

Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to set up the task force after protesters at fuel depots brought the country to a virtual standstill earlier this month.

Details of exactly what action the police and government might take to keep the tankers moving in the event of a future protest were kept secret for security reasons.

But elements of the task force plan which were made public include:

• Joint early-warning systems to alert authorities to the threat of protests

• Co-ordinated contingency plans in the case of attempts to disrupt supplies

• Joint crisis management systems

• Action to prevent intimidation of tanker drivers

Home Secretary Jack Straw, who heads the fuel task force, said the plan could not guarantee that Britain's fuel pumps would not run dry again, but said that it would at least reduce the risk of a repeat of the chaos.

He said: "It is not possible to eliminate all risk to oil supplies. Our aim has been a practical one of reducing the risk.

"The idea of the memorandum of understanding is to ensure that every signatory - the oil companies, central government, the devolved administrations, the police, the trade unions - is involved in taking the necessary contingency action against possible future disruption."

Mr Straw is still considering changes in the law to oblige the oil companies to maintain supplies as gas, water and electricity firms must do.

'Missing the point'

The memorandum has been signed by four cabinet ministers, senior ministers of the Scottish and Welsh assemblies, the TUC, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the big five oil companies and several major hauliers.

The real democratic deficit is about people who were never elected claiming to speak on behalf of the nation

TUC president Bill Morris

Malcolm Brinded, chairman of Shell UK said: "We are happy to commit to this memorandum. We have a great interest in maintaining continuity of oil supplies to all our customers and, like other signatories, will do all we can to minimise future disruption."

Conservative transport spokesman Bernard Jenkin told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "If the government is going to treat this as a sort of tough law-and-order issue, they are missing the point."

The government's mandate was based on election promises not to raise taxes, which most voters understood to cover indirect taxes such as fuel duty as well as income tax, he claimed.

"There is a democratic deficit in the government's policy.

"If the government are really going to start provoking more unrest by invoking special powers to force people to do things that they would otherwise not do, they have really missed the point and they will carry on losing the consent to govern."

But Bill Morris, president of the TUC, said: "The real democratic deficit is about people who were never elected claiming to speak on behalf of the nation and giving the government 60 days' notice. Is that democracy?"