Ed Balls: 'Wrong signal' on fuel duty Transport Secretary Justine Greening has said she will not lobby the Treasury to postpone the rise in petrol due in August, but said we should challenge the petrol retailers to cut the price, as the global oil price has come down considerably. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls told the Today programme that the government should be pressurising the oil companies to get the pump prices down instead of "giving them an excuse to raise prices." The government is "sending the wrong signal at the wrong time," he said.