Reform UK bus and taxi the only vehicles at Jenrick’s ‘national fuel protest’
Reform England’s “fair fuel” protest failed to gain support on Monday and a planned march in Whitehall was canceled due to a small turnout.
Billed as a “national fuel protest”, it was shared on social media by senior Reform UK members, including the party’s treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick.
The artificial intelligence-generated poster promoting the event on social media featured a series of tractors, trucks and pickup trucks placed in front of the parliament.
But no other vehicles had appeared when Reform UK’s double-decker bus and taxi returned to Whitehall 40 minutes after the advertised 9am start time.
Only dozens of spectators gathered on the street next to the bus; the majority were from the media and only a small handful of Reform UK supporters attended.
The event was also supposed to include a march towards Whitehall but the moving show was cancelled.
Mr Jenrick, who led the protest alongside Reform deputy leader Richard Tice, MP Sarah Pochin and London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, said the group was “roaming around central London… talking to punters”.
“People are honking their horns in support of us,” he said. “We are here to send a very strong message to Chancellor Rachel Reeves: do something now to help our struggling drivers.
“From Australia to Germany, Sweden, Spain and Ireland, chancellors and finance ministers around the world are taking action to ease the burden.”
Reform UK is urging Ms Reeves not to go ahead with the fuel duty increase planned for September and to impose an “immediate emergency cut”.
Labor is under pressure to prepare measures to protect Britons amid uncertainty around rising prices and the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz caused by the war in Iran.
“Rachel Reeves, if you’re listening – and I invited her here today last week, she didn’t say anything like that – but listen if she’s cowering in front of one of the Treasury windows behind us,” Mr Jenrick added.
“Listen to the voices of millions of Britons who are finding life difficult at the moment. Take action. Lighten the burden. Cut fuel duty now.”
Oil prices hit an almost three-week high on Monday as peace talks between the United States and Iran stalled and a key oil route remained closed.
Negotiations between Iran and the United States broke down once again over the weekend when Donald Trump announced that envoys would no longer travel to Pakistan for talks due to a lack of progress.
Mr Trump told Fox News on Sunday: “We can talk if they want, but we’re not sending people.”
Speaking on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer reiterated that no matter what happens in Iran, the government has capped household energy costs until July, while fuel duty is planned to be frozen until September.
