Southampton politicians on rising petrol prices

Unleaded is now costing more than 150p per litre at almost every city station, and prices are reaching as high as £2 for diesel.

But MPs Royston Smith and Alan Whitehead have different ideas on how to solve the historically high rates.

READ MORE: The latest petrol prices at Southampton stations - from highest to lowest

Mr Smith, who represents the Itchen constituency, acknowledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But the Conservative added the Government is ‘going further than the Labour party’ to help people, who are also struggling with inflating living costs.

“Government is limited in what it can do so solve this,” he told the Echo.

“Steps are being taken to assist consumers with the higher costs. This includes lowering the Universal Credit taper rate, increasing the National Living Wage, freezing fuel duty, and launching a £500 million Household Support Fund.

“Government have introduced a three-part plan to help with household fuel bills immediately worth £350 per household a total package of support worth £8.6 billion. This goes further than any policy that Labour have announced to directly assist consumers."

However, Labour MP Alan Whitehead, of the Test constituency, is calling on the Tories to do more.

He said: “Rises in petrol prices come at the same time as price rises in other areas so will be felt painfully by many in Southampton.

“The Conservatives are not doing enough to help with the rising cost of living and their national insurance hike could not come at a worse time.

“Those seeking to use alternative modes of travel will also be paying through the nose due to the Conservatives having overseen huge increases in rail fares year on year, they just don't have a plan to tackle any of these issues.”

Local Greens have expressed their frustration that more has not been done to invest in renewable energy over the last decade.

John Spottiswoode, economics spokesman for Southampton and District Green Party, said his party have been calling for extra investment in technology, such as wind, wave and solar energy production.

“If we had done that over the past few years then now we would be in a much stronger position to deal with spiralling fossil fuel prices,” he said.

“So it is important to invest a lot more in renewable energy as a matter of urgency. The councils in Hampshire could play a big part in that. “The immediate problem means that the government must impose a one-off windfall tax on those companies who have benefited enormously from the rise in petrol and gas prices.

"Basically, the extra we are being forced to pay due to global energy price rises is going straight into the big pockets of the energy companies giving them enormous profits. “So the extra we pay goes directly, in effect, to these massively profitable companies who make eye-watering gains.

"We must lessen the load on people from the price hikes by using a windfall tax to reduce the impact on consumers and to invest in a renewable energy future.”