Fuel prices are a rip-off scandal and we’re all paying. Oil companies are slurping up huge profits and the Government is slurping up huge amounts in tax as motorists are fleeced at every opportunity.

A survey in Shropshire has shown a big discrepancy in prices. As you would expect, supermarkets, where there is cut-throat competition, come in at the bottom of the scale. In Shrewsbury you can get a litre of unleaded for 132.7p and diesel for 136.7p. At the other end of the scale, filling up at the Shell station at Telford’s M54 service station will set you back 145.9p a litre for petrol, and 149.9p for diesel.

There are commercial and other reasons which drive these differences, but the overall picture is that motorists are paying through their nose.

Anyone who has to do any significant journey to get to and from work could be facing a fuel bill of over £200 a month. Rural businesses and enterprises, which of necessity have to travel to deliver or pick up supplies, are being penalised.

High fuel bills are like a lifestyle tax on rural residents and a punitive additional tax on rural firms and therefore on rural jobs.

In the run-up to the general election David Cameron promised a fairer system to ease the pain. In office, he has kicked those promises into the long grass.

During the past turbulent week, rural people have not taken to the streets, have not stoked up trouble, and have continued to be the backbone of a stable, tranquil, society.

Their reward should not be that they are singled out to be taken for a ride.

May’s decision is right one:

The decision by the Home Secretary to ban the march by the English Defence League in Telford tomorrow will be greeted with relief throughout the town.

It is the right, common sense, decision to take. Given the atmosphere on the streets of English towns and cities over the past week, the risk was too great that malign elements would take advantage to stir things up.

It is premature to relax. While the march is banned, it does not mean that EDL members will not seek to gather.

If, however, the EDL leaders want to show they are responsible people with the best interests of the community at heart, they will take the hint and stay away.

And if they are insistent about coming, they should choose some day in the future when things have calmed down and the prospect of an EDL rally does not strike such fear into the hearts of Telford people.