“The petrol companies track the price of crude and their prices go up within hours of the oil price rising,” he said. “But it seems to take weeks for a drop in the price of crude to filter through to the customer.

“If the Government is not going to reduce the duty then they should be calling on the petrol companies to get their prices down as soon as the price of crude is reduced.”

Mr Gray spoke out after figures released by BT Business showed more than half of small Scottish firms are suffering worse trading conditions than their counterparts down south.

Almost two thirds (63%) of businesses north of the border say their costs are rising and 54% think conditions are worsening.

“I think the majority of firms in Tayside are badly affected and there’s nothing to be cheerful about at the moment,” he said.

“Hopefully the 0.5% reduction in interest rates will help but the government could definitely do more about the price of fuel.

“We’re doing our best to help small businesses with our Keep Trade Local campaign, which for example encourages hotels to use their local butchers. That kind of thing can help local trade and we’ll be doing more in the next few weeks.”

The national trading figures were contained in BT Business’ State of the Small Business Nation 2008 Report, published to mark the start of Small Business Week, which aims to help small firms survive and plan for the future.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business said, “This growing sector continues to be dynamic and energising but more than ever we need to ensure the right resources and structures are in place to support Britain’s small business ‘engine room’.

“The aim of Small Business Week is to make entrepreneurs aware of the expert support and resources that are out there. We need to help as many businesses as we can to meet the current challenges so they are ready for the upturn when it comes.”

The study found rising costs, finance, tax and VAT, legislation and red tape were seen as the main barriers to growth.