NIGEL Evans MP has blasted Tony Blair as "incapable of answering the simplest of questions about his own government's policies".

Responding to the Ribble Valley MP's question concerning the amount and whereabouts of money raised through the increase of VAT receipts as a result of the rise in world petrol prices, the Prime Minister refused to answer.

Speaking after the House of Commons debate, Mr Evans said: "For many people living in the Ribble Valley the car is not a luxury, it is an absolute necessity.

"People who live in rural areas, such as Longridge and Clitheroe, clearly have to drive further to go to work or to take their children to school and have no choice but to pay far more in petrol tax than those who live in large urban areas.

"In refusing to answer my question, the Prime Minister has showed himself for who he really is -- a man who can not acknowledge the truth, a man who lacks the morality to understand the damaging effects his petrol policies are having, especially on the rural motorist and a man who is on a completely different wave-length to the ordinary man or woman on the street."