Politics LIVE: Starmer holds emergency talks as Tories demands energy bill cuts | Politics | News

Keir Starmer is holding crisis talks as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demands a VAT cut to reduce Britons’ energy bills. Ms Badenoch’s demands come as Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has caused oil prices to rise sharply.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are now exacerbating the situation by threatening to close the second major oil shipping route to the Red Sea (known in Arabic as the Government Kulaks). The Conservative leader will visit an oil platform off Aberdeen today to launch his new ‘Cheap Energy Plan’ and is calling on the government to take immediate action on the issue.

Last night he said: “I know families and business owners in Britain will be very worried about how the global energy crisis will affect them. That’s why I find it appalling that Labour’s solution is to tax working people to fund a bailout for welfare recipients. Our Cheap Energy Plan would cut everyone’s bills by £200 by drilling in the North Sea and repealing Ed Miliband’s crazy green taxes.”

His call comes as Sir Keir Starmer is due to hold urgent talks in Downing Street on Monday to find a solution to the impact of the Middle East crisis. Along with Sir Keir, senior representatives from Shell, BP, Centrica, Equinor, Maersk, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Lloyd’s of London will attend the roundtable.

They will discuss how the Government and the private sector can work together at a time when the conflict in the Middle East continues to have a significant impact on British people at home. The Prime Minister is expected to reiterate that the best way to reduce the impact of war on the cost of living is to “de-escalate tensions” and that his government will “always act in the national interest and protect the British people”.

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