Ananova:

William Hague and shadow cabinet colleagues are seeking to increase the pressure on the Government over fuel prices.

They will be highlighting their pledge that a Tory government would cut duty by 3p a litre during a series of events across the country.

Members of the public are being invited to sign up to the Tories' 3p cut demand at more than 200 street stalls around the UK as part of the party's second national fuel action day.

The last such event, at the end of July, resulted in the collection of more than 300,000 signatures from people promising to vote against "stealth taxes" on motorists at the next general election.

Tory leader Mr Hague, who was due to attend an event in his constituency in Richmond, North Yorkshire, said: "The demand for cuts in fuel taxes is not just a cry from the countryside, as bad as the problems are, but from millions of hard-working people throughout the entire country who are sick to death of being fleeced at the pump by Gordon Brown."

Mr Hague said the objective of the day was to highlight the Chancellor's "stubborn and arrogant" refusal to cut fuel duty.

Friends of the Earth criticised the Tory action.

Director Charles Secrett said: "I think Mr Hague and his colleagues owe the victims of severe weather disasters a sincere and public apology.

"No serious British politician denies that man-made climate change is the biggest environmental threat facing the planet. And yet, rather than developing policies that might help protect people from future disasters, the Tories can't resist trying to scramble on the fuel protesters' articulated bandwagon. This grubby little lunge at a quick headline deserves to fail."