Politics latest: Starmer to announce support for millions over Iran crisis as energy bills spiral – UK Times

Sir Keir Starmer will use his press conference on Monday to criticise his domestic political rivals Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage over their approach to the Iran crisis.

The Prime Minister is expected to say: “Moments like this also tell you about leadership… Now, there are others who would have made a different decision two weeks ago.

“They would have rushed the UK headlong into this war without the full picture of what they were sending our forces into and without a plan to get us out.

“That’s not leading, it’s following.

“My leadership is about standing firm for the British interest. No matter the pressure.

“And I believe time will show that we have the right approach. Right on the economy and the cost of living. Right on defence and energy.

“And right on this war, in the best interests of the British people.”

Donald Trump’s comments about the risk to Nato if allies do not contribute to the military effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz have been played down by a Cabinet minister.

The UK appears unlikely to agree to the US president’s call for allies to contribute warships to a mission to protect shipping passing through the waterway from Iranian attacks.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Times Radio: “There’s a lot of rhetoric, always, in this presidency.

“Underneath that, there is a good and close relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. I’m confident that will continue. We speak to one another all the time.

“But that doesn’t mean that we will always have to support every intervention and every action that the United States chooses to take.”

Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday did not heed calls from Mr Trump to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route in the Middle East being blockaded by Iran.

Instead, Britain is currently mulling over the possibility of sending mine-hunting drones to the region amid worries of an Iranian build-up of explosives in the narrow sea passage.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Trump reiterated his call for allied assistance in the Straight of Hormuz, telling the paper: “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there.”

He also said Nato faces a “very bad” future should its member states fail to help, adding: “We’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us.”

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to help households with the cost of living amid the energy price spike caused by the war in the Middle East, after he appeared to resist Donald Trump’s calls to send warships to the region.

The Prime Minister will on Monday say that helping households with living costs is “my first priority” as he announces a subsidy for those who use heating oil to warm their homes, after they faced price spikes caused by the war.

The Prime Minister’s heating oil announcement on Monday comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Treasury officials have “found the money” to help the 1.5 million households relying on the fuel.

Heating oil is not protected by the energy price cap and its price per litre has doubled as a result of the stranglehold on oil leaving the Middle East since the US-Israeli war with Iran began.

Inside Downing Street, Sir Keir will say: “It’s moments like this that tell you what a Government is about.

“My answer is clear. Whatever challenges lie ahead, this Government will always support working people.

“That is my first instinct – my first priority – to help you with the cost of living through this crisis.”

The Prime Minister will also raise concerns about claims that suppliers of heating oil have cancelled orders and then jacked up prices.

Britain is weighing up sending minehunting drones to unblock Iran’s stranglehold over a key oil shipping route as the government looks “intensively” at what it can do to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband said there was “a range of things” that the UK and its allies could do to secure the route, which has been blocked by Iran and has led to a surge in energy prices.

His intervention comes after Donald Trump called for allied warships to protect tankers in the region and help secure the waterway. In an appeal to nations affected by the price spikes on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.

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