Dithering Starmer issues one promise as oil tops $100 a barrel | UK | News
Pressure intensifies for Starmer to act (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly been forced to table household energy support as the conflict in Iran has pushed oil prices towards $109 a barrel and shows no sign of ending, warning that cost-of-living pressures on British families are “always on my mind”.
“Whatever the headwinds are, supporting working people and their families with living expenses is always on my mind,” he told reporters ahead of a Monday visit to a community center in London.
Pressure for Starmer to act is intensifying. The Express understands unions and a growing number of Labor MPs are pressing for a formal support package to be drawn up before the conflict has a deeper economic impact. Brent crude jumped as much as 10% in a matter of days; Weekend production cuts by the UAE and Kuwait threatened to extend market turmoil into a second week. Before the first bomb fell on February 28, oil was changing hands at $72 a barrel.
The Solution Foundation has put a figure on what the energy shock means for ordinary households; A £500 hit for the typical family is dwarfed by the £150 savings Reeves announced in the November budget. Economists have been blunt that a blanket household bailout is beyond the country’s means.
Bloomberg reported Starmer as saying: “The public is rightly worried about what this means for life at home – their bills, their jobs, their communities. I want to address these concerns head on. I will always be guided by what is best for the British people.”
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Trump tension
The Express reported on Sunday how the first direct meeting between Starmer and Trump took place since the US president’s public attacks on the Prime Minister for dragging his feet on access to the RAF base.
The call covered military cooperation, and Starmer expressed his condolences for the six American soldiers killed in the conflict.
It did little to completely thaw relations. Trump said on Saturday that Britain’s aircraft carrier offer was redundant:
“We will remember. We don’t need people joining the Wars after we win!” he said, having previously dismissed Starmer as “no Winston Churchill” over his reluctance to open British bases to US attacks.
Cooper went to his boss’s defense on the BBC’s Sunday episode alongside Laura Kuenssberg. “He was right to defend England and British interests,” Starmer said. “This does not mean just making deals with other countries or delegating our foreign policy to other countries.”
Massive fires have burned Iran’s oil infrastructure since Trump and Israel launched their attacks (Image: Getty)
military structure
Britain’s military footprint in the region expanded over the weekend. Qatar acquired four more Typhoon jets, while a Merlin helicopter prized for advanced aerial threat detection capability was heading towards Cyprus, which had already countered an Iranian drone strike.
HMS Prince of Wales’ deployment preparation time has been reduced from 14 days to five days, but the order to sail has not yet been given. On Sunday, British forces shot down an Iranian drone targeting Iraq. Counter-drone experts have also been deployed alongside UAE military teams as part of ongoing defense efforts.
Alongside Trump, Starmer held a phone call with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday, condemning Tehran’s attacks across the region and thanking the United Arab Emirates for protecting British citizens; thousands were still waiting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to return home.
A government-chartered commercial flight is operating out of the UAE early next week. British citizens and their dependents with a valid six-month visa can apply, with the most vulnerable given first access. The flight will not be free. Meanwhile, regular commercial routes are slowly starting to reopen.
