Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, responded on Tuesday to growing public anger over surging oil prices by proposing to use windfall tax receipts generated by higher energy prices to subsidise the worst-hit people.

As in other countries, high oil prices are a hot political issue in France as household budgets and businesses have been squeezed. On Tuesday, French fishermen, protesting against fuel prices, temporarily halted Channel ferries from Dunkirk and blockaded an oil depot near Marseilles. Lorry drivers in Britain also blocked motorways around London demanding a fuel tax rebate from the government.