The Government has to stand up to the bullying of the fuel protesters

This time, we must hope, things will be different. There is one week to go before Gordon Brown's pre-Budget statement. This is a defining moment for the Government, when it must show that it will not permit policy to be made on the streets. If Mr Brown does the right thing and refuses to cut fuel duty, we will be treated to the disruptive activity of a minority of road hauliers, farmers and other special-interest groups. This time, we can be sure that ministers will be better prepared than they were in September. They have made no secret of the lengths to which they will go - including training 1,000 troops to take over tanker-driving duties - to protect us from an arrogant minority.

This time, we must hope, things will be different. There is one week to go before Gordon Brown's pre-Budget statement. This is a defining moment for the Government, when it must show that it will not permit policy to be made on the streets. If Mr Brown does the right thing and refuses to cut fuel duty, we will be treated to the disruptive activity of a minority of road hauliers, farmers and other special-interest groups. This time, we can be sure that ministers will be better prepared than they were in September. They have made no secret of the lengths to which they will go - including training 1,000 troops to take over tanker-driving duties - to protect us from an arrogant minority.

Mr Blair, he has let it be known, will focus his attention on the challenge in a way he did not before. The Government surely hopes to weaken the resolve of the protesters; it is right to do so. The militants need to know that the first duty of any government is to uphold the rule of law.

This time, things will also be different for the public. Anecdotal evidence suggests that motorists will soon begin to run their cars with their tanks just a little bit fuller. Halfords is reporting sales of petrol cans running at five times last year's levels. Minds are beginning to be concentrated. Delivery firms are starting to stockpile fuel. Unlike the rush of panic buying in September, such preparations will make the effects of any blockades less severe.

For their part, the protesters have started to make threatening noises. We are informed that unless an elected British government does as they dictate, they will organise a "crusade" of slow-moving lorries to travel from Jarrow to Trafalgar Square and bring motorways to a halt. They may even blockade the ports. Tony Burden, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, says: "We are ready for whatever happens." Good. The truckers should not be allowed to make or break the law and make a nuisance of themselves in central London - or anywhere else, for that matter.

This "Jarrow march" is a typically tasteless and selfish stunt. It recalls the hungry 1930s, when men were expected to feed, clothe and house families on the equivalent of £28 per week. It is fair to point out that some of today's protest-leaders, who own huge farms (subsidised by the taxpayer) and multimillion-pound businesses, would not have passed a 1936 means test.

And there are two other factors that will make a difference: the weather and the railways. It is true that a country emerging from the worst storms since 1987 and the worst disruption to the railways since 1945 is in a poor position to withstand the blackmail of the extremists. But the climate of public opinion may well be much less favourable to the protesters: they made their point last time, and surely the last thing the soaked citizens of Shrewsbury and Taunton and the rest of us need is a fuel blockade. The floods made the environmental case for fuel duty as eloquently as any politician. The role of the oil companies and Opec, and the cases of intimidation against tanker-drivers, are now more widely appreciated as well.

Ministers will still need to make their case: but this time they may find conditions on the battlefield a little more favourable to them. In any case, it is a fight the Government must win. Next week Mr Brown must live up to his iron reputation and face down the bullies.