A failure by petrol firms and supermarkets to pass on the full benefit of falling oil prices to customers filling up at the pumps would be an "outrage", a Cabinet Minister has warned.
Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander has demanded guarantees from fuel companies and distributors that they were doing all they could to pass on the price cuts to hard-pressed motorists.
His comments came as Asda announced it would be cutting the price of petrol and diesel by 1p to 119.7pm and 123.7p a litre.
Asda said it was the first time its petrol had gone under 120p a litre in four years.
It triggered a supermarket price war and Sainsbury's and Tescos quickly followed suit with 1p cuts of their own.
At a speech in Aberdeen, Mr Alexander said consumers felt petrol prices rise "like a rocket" when oil costs went up, but fall "like a feather" when they came down.
And he said people would "rightly be angry" if they felt prices were not coming down as much as they should.
Brent crude slumped as low as $82 (£51) a barrel earlier this week, its lowest level in just over four years due to concerns about over-supply.
The Liberal Democrat frontbencher will say: "Especially in the current economic circumstances people would rightly be angry if they feel that pump prices don't fall as much as they should on the back of falling oil prices."
However, investigations into the failure to pass on the fall in the price of oil has been inconclusive.
Mr Alexander has written to the industry's major players "seeking their assurance that they are doing all they can to pass on the benefit of falling oil prices as quickly as possible".
He said: "When the price of oil falls, the public have a right to expect pump prices to fall like a stone, not a feather."
Motoring organisations were quick to say there was more then Government could do that just put pressure on oil firms.
RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "It is encouraging that Mr Alexander shares the concerns of the nation's drivers but in a way he is passing the buck.
"The biggest driver of pump prices remains the Government. Well over 60% of the price is tax."
AA president Edmund King said: "They themselves could do more.
"First, policies to help strengthen the pound by just 10 cents against the dollar would double the potential for a 2p-a-litre fall in the price of petrol to 4p.
"Secondly, the Government's failure to introduce fuel price transparency, showing the relationship between oil, wholesale and pump prices, has helped no one."
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie said: "Of course it's right that drivers should benefit from falling oil prices with lower prices at the pumps.
"But since 2011 people have paid 3p more on every litre of petrol because the Lib Dems broke their promise and backed the Tories in raising VAT."
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