A DISTRICT MP is backing calls for a regulator to be appointed to stop motorists paying over the odds for petrol.

Philip Davies, whose Shipley constituency includes Cullingworth and Denholme, is among 30 Conservative MPs who have written to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over the issue.

"Prices at the pumps are slowly falling but these reductions are not reflective of the fall in the wholesale price," says Mr Davies.

"Between early October and the beginning of December petrol prices on average fell by just three per cent, despite the wholesale costs falling by over 20 per cent. For diesel it was worse, as wholesale costs dropped by 25 per cent but there was little if any change in what motorists were paying.

"This is not acceptable."