Brown needs to look at his fuel gauge

The Mirror and The Sun both devote their lead editorial to arguing against the planned rise in vehicle excise duty and the rising cost of fuel. The Mirror—which is the one reliably pro-Brown paper in Fleet Street—leader will cause particular concern among jittery Labour MPs.

It warns that the “rebellion…has the potential to be more damaging than the row over the 10p tax rate.” It urges Brown to “act now, signal that a 2p rise in fuel duty will not go ahead and make clear he is listening on vehicle excise duty.”

42 days and the vehicle excise duty revolt will give us our first guide to how much Brown’s authority among his backbenchers has been diminished by the triple-whammy of bad election results. The question is will Labour MPs pull away from confrontation fearful of doing more damage to Brown or will they pile in anyway, not caring—or maybe even hoping—that this might speed his departure.