Chancellor Gordon Brown said today he would not be be forced into panic pension increases and fuel tax cuts the country cannot afford.

He said the Government would not take short term taxation decisions on "wildly fluctuating" world oil prices - neither would it link pensions to increases in wages which could lay down a future financial minefield.

Mr Brown's no nonsense message came as a bitter blow to hundreds of pensioners standing in pouring rain on the Brighton seafront hoping for a Government change of heart.

They collectively vowed to maintain their protest outside Labour's Brighton Conference and shame the Government into taking action.

Mr Brown addressed delegates after flying from Prague where he had chaired several meetings of the world's richest nations.

He revealed they had fought for and won agreement to increase oil output and bring down prices which had so angered motorists and hauliers.

The Chancellor also promised a rise next year in the £3.70 minimum wage and wide-ranging tax concessions which would help rebuild and revitalise many of Britain's inner cities.

To the pensioners he said: "I know we have much to do, much more to do. More for the poorest and more for the millions of pensioners who have yet to share enough in the country's rising prosperity."

He insisted Labour's spending on pensions since coming to power was greater than if the earnings link had been maintained and he made no excuse for helping the poorest pensioners first.

He said: "We will now build on the basic state pension. We will spend more and we will spend more fairly."

But defying pensioners' plea for immediate increases Mr Brown added: "We will do nothing that puts this country's stability and public services at risk.

"So there should now be a national debate on spending and taxation, the outcome of which will affect every part of this country.

"It is too important to ever be decided by those who shout the loudest or push the hardest. The British way, the Labour way, is that every voice should be heard," he concluded.

Visit the Labour conference here.