Fuel duty rise ‘under review’ as Iran war response sparks tensions
Sir Keir Starmer has said a rise in fuel scheduled for September is “under review” hours after Rachel Reeves hinted an energy support package could be drawn up.
Starmer said fuel duty would remain frozen until September and the policy would be kept “under review in light of what’s happening in Iran” when he was pressed on the matter by the Tory leader.
But the Prime Minister turned to attack Badenoch by suggesting that she had committed “the mother of all U-turns” in easing rhetoric around the US-Israeli war against Iran.
“After nine days of saying ‘join the war, join the war, join the war’, yesterday she said ‘I never said we should join, I haven’t said we should go in with the US’,” Starmer said.
“I’ll tell you what’s happened, she and the Reform leader have been spooked, because they realise they jumped into supporting a war without thinking through the consequences and now she is furiously trying to back-pedal.”
Badenoch said she had criticised his delay allowing US military bases to strike Iranian targets after the outbreak of the war.
Fuel duty rise facing pushback
Starmer’s response during Prime Minister’s Questions appeared to be an attempt to directly link his decision on war to the government’s handling of the cost of living.
The UK has held that military bases are only being used for “specific and limited defensive purposes”. It only allowed the US access to military bases in the region after the war had begun, prompting President Trump to attack Starmer on the UK’s failure to back its ally.
Badenoch’s spokesman said the Conservatives supported its allies, the US and Israel, in attacks against Iran.
The spokesman also disputed the suggestion that the UK was not in the war given military bases had been attacked by Iranian drones. The party would allow UK armed forces to target Iranian military sites attacking British bases.
The war has sent government officials into crisis mode, with Rachel Reeves suggesting earlier on Wednesday that the government was prepared to draw up an energy support package for British households to ease the impact of soaring oil prices.
She told MPs on the Treasury committee that there was “scope” for an expensive package to support households. The Tories have called for an extension of fuel duty while Reform UK has called for the tax to be scrapped.
“We are in a stronger position in the energy market than where we were in 2022,” Reeves said.
“Any future package, if it were necessary, would be more affordable.
“We are less reliant on energy price movements than when Russia invaded Ukraine because we have invested more in home-grown renewable energy, which is not subject to this price volatility.”