UK faces higher prices for eight months after war in Iran ends, says minister | Consumer affairs
Britain will face higher food and fuel prices for at least eight months after the end of the war in Iran, a minister has said.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route that carries one-fifth of global oil and gas, has caused oil prices to rise since US and Israeli attacks on Iran began in February.
The Prime Minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, said the conflict was likely to continue driving up energy, food and flight prices in the coming months as potential problems with energy supplies affected production rather than causing shortages on supermarket shelves.
The UK government has urged drivers to fill up as usual due to high prices at the pumps, and air passengers not to change their plans due to possible jet fuel shortages.
Jones told the BBC’s program with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday: “You will see prices rise a little bit as a result of what Donald Trump has done in the Middle East.
“This will probably come online not just in the next few weeks but in the next few months. There’s going to be a long tail after that.”
Asked how long prices could remain high, Jones said it would be about eight months after the Strait of Hormuz is unblocked and hostilities subside.
“I think our best guess is that you will see economic impacts from the system more than eight months from the point of resolution,” he said.
Donald Trump last week announced an indefinite extension of the US ceasefire with Iran, pausing most of the fighting, but further efforts to end the conflict failed after the US president told his envoys not to travel to Pakistan for talks over the weekend.
The UK government is stepping up planning on how to offset the impact, focusing on live monitoring of stock levels and what plans are in place to address supply chain disruption.
Jones said: “The government in the UK, my work with the prime minister, is looking at all of this and saying, ‘What can we do within our power to help people get through these difficult times?’ “he says.”
The government is also trying to secure stockpiles of carbon dioxide, which is used in the food industry and breweries to fizzy drinks, as well as for defense and medical uses such as MRI scanning.
Jones said he wanted to ensure there was an adequate supply of beer for fans watching the men’s soccer World Cup, which starts on June 11.
He said: “I raise this issue because summer can be quite sweltering for people if there’s a problem with carbon dioxide in jet fuel and beer during the holidays, but we’re doing everything we can to make sure that’s not the case.”
The Liberal Democrats have called for a bill to be included in the next king’s speech in May to put food safety at the top of the government’s agenda.
