"David Cameron 'deeply' concerned by oil price fixing claims"

From the BBC:

David Cameron is extremely concerned by claims of oil price fixing involving a major government department, Downing Street has said. The prime minister's spokesman said it was "deeply worrying" if prices have been driven up for consumers as a result of collusion between the oil majors and a little known government department. Whitehall insiders and industry analysts have suggested that HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs are under suspicion.

Civil servants are facing claims they have been fixing prices for several decades and are pushing up pump prices by up to 80 pence a litre by asking petrol stations to add "petroleum duty" and "Value Added Tax" to the price, which they then have to pass back to the officials concerned under series of backroom deals and gentlemen's agreements.

It follows a raid on the offices of HM Revenue & Customs and HM Treasury by European anti-trust regulators. Spokesmen for the departments concerned said they were co-operating with investigators. In a Commons statement, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was working with European Commission investigators but stressed their inquiries were at a very early stage and urged MPs not to "jump the gun".