Britain’s Brown calls for global action on oil price

Brown, who saw hundreds of protesting British truck drivers cause road chaos in the capital on Tuesday as they demanded government help over rising fuel prices, said he understood the impact on families across the country, but only a comprehensive international strategy would work in bringing oil prices down. “A global shock on this scale requires global solutions,” Brown wrote in The Guardian newspaper. He pledged to put global action on oil price rises at the top of the agenda at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Japan in July and promised to propose more international work on “a better dialogue on supply possibilities and trends in demand.” Brown was due on Wednesday to meet oil industry executives in Scotland to discuss the high price of oil.

According to The Guardian, he was expected to try to secure increased output from from Britain’s dwindling North Sea oil fields. But Brown said in the long term, oil dependency had to be reduced and other sources of energy explored and exploited. “If we are to ensure a better deal for consumers, energy security and lower greenhouse gas emissions, Britain, Europe and the world will have to change how we use energy and the type of energy we use,” he wrote. “We need to accelerate the development and deployment of alternative sources of energy, reducing global dependence on oil.” Brown’s comments come a day after truckers from across Britain converged on London in a vast convoy, closing a busy artery and causing traffic chaos. (Reuters)