PRIME Minister David Cameron has spoken about the incident in which Diane Hill was injured.

“This was absolutely a desperate incident and a terrible thing that has happened to this woman,” said Mr Cameron.

“My heart goes out to her and her family. Everything that can be done is being done to help her at this time.”

The incident has prompted calls for the resignation of Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, who earlier this week suggested people should keep a jerry can of spare fuel in their garages.

Labour MP for Hull East, Karl Turner, said: “Francis Maude should resign if his politicking and unnecessary panic has led to a York woman decanting petrol in kitchen suffering 40 per cent burns.”

The leader of City of York Council, James Alexander, said Mr Maude should publicly withdraw his advice on storing petrol – describing it as ‘hugely irresponsible’.

“I have today written to Francis Maude to ask him to retract his comments,” he said.

“By encouraging people to store jerry cans of fuel, he is being hugely irresponsible and increasing the risk to public health from this activity.

“This is an incredibly sad incident and I’m sure the woman involved is receiving the best treatment possible, so I wish her a speedy recovery. The Minister must accept that while his comments cannot be directly linked to this incident, they could very easily have contributed to it or to the potential for other similar incidents to happen elsewhere in the country.”

He said the incident showed the dangers involved in handling petrol and the importance of keeping it well away from the house.

York MP Hugh Bayley said: “It’s better to do without your car than to suffer appalling injuries.”