Business leaders in the West Midlands have called on the Government to act to help shield manufacturers from soaring oil costs.

The demands came as crude prices were pegged firmly above the $60 a barrel level yesterday.

A record $60.47 price registered on the New York Mercantile Exchange meant that crude is now more than 60 per cent higher than a year ago.

One crumb of comfort for beleaguered manufacturers, however, was that yesterday's price was a long way off the $90 a barrel needed to match the inflationadjusted high of 25 years ago.

The latest round of price rises has been sparked by fears that output cannot cope with increasing demand around the world.

Markets are also jittery over the election of anti- West hard- liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - said by one commentator to be "wedded to the economics of the Middle Ages" - to the presidency of Iran.

The Bank of International Settlements said current conditions were "strikingly reminiscent" of the stagflation - a mix of stagnant economies and inflation - last seen in the late 1960s early 1970s.

The impact on British companies was summed up by Nick Goulding, chief executive of pressure group the Forum of Private Business.

"Businesses are sweltering in a pressure cooker of rising fuel costs," he said.

The group, which speaks for about 25,000 companies employing more than 600,000 people, called on Chancellor Gordon Brown to ease anxiety over rising petrol prices by linking fuel duty to the price of crude oil.

"That way, when crude is expensive duty would be lowered and vice versa," said Mr Goulding.

"This will mean there is a constant and consistent price at the pump and bosses would know exactly where they stand. At the moment firms are being hit with the double whammy of high fuel duty and high oil costs."