Opening summary: Reeves to tell petrol bosses she ‘will not tolerate’ wartime profiteering
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has asked the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to “crack down” on “rip off” fuel prices as she prepares to meet energy bosses amid concerns companies are profiteering off the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
The conflict in the Middle East is driving oil prices higher, fuelling concerns that households could face an even harsher cost of living crisis.
In a letter to the CMA, Reeves she “will not tolerate any company exploiting the current crisis to make excess profits at customers’ expense”. She requested the CMA to stay on “high alert” for “unjustifiable” price hikes.
The Treasury said Reeves and energy secretary Ed Miliband will also press petrol retailers and energy suppliers to ensure drivers are not left paying “over the odds” in a Downing Street meeting today, the PA news agency reported.
Oil prices have again topped $100 a barrel as widespread Iranian attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East overshadowed a vast release of government reserves.
Tomasz Wieladek, chief European macro economist at investment management firm T. Rowe Price, warned this morning that the oil price shock hitting the global economy could push the UK into recession.
“The war in the Middle East and the consequent oil price rise will raise inflation and reduce consumer spending,” he said.
In other news:
The Conservative party continue to accuse the government of a “cover-up” after it released documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s 2024 appointment as ambassador to the US. Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said the government published the “wrong versions of the documents”, while shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart suggested there was “missing” correspondence in the published material. Downing Street has rejected the accusations.
The UK economy entered the Middle East crisis after a weak start to the year, according to official figures showing flatlining January output before the US-Israel war on Iran hit global energy prices. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 0% growth in gross domestic product (GDP), down from an increase of 0.1% in December, as the economy failed to recover from uncertainty surrounding Reeves’s autumn budget.
Prime minister Keir Starmer could suffer further resignations when ministerial WhatsApp messages are published in the next tranche of the Mandelson files, senior government sources have told the Guardian. Starmer apologised again yesterday over his handling of Mandelson’s appointment, saying: “It was me that made a mistake, and it’s me that makes the apology to the victims of [Jeffrey] Epstein, and I do that.”
Stay with us for all the developments.
Key events
Starmer risks Trump’s fury as minister says UK will not follow US in easing Russian oil sancitons
Keir Starmer has once again put himself at odds with Donald Trump after a UK government minister confirmed the prime minister will not follow the US president in temporarily waiving sanctions on Russian oil.
Energy minister Michael Shanks told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we absolutely can’t have is [Vladimir] Putin sitting in the Kremlin seeing this as a chance to invest in the war machine.”
It is sure to spark fresh outrage from the US president, who has repeatedly taken aim at Starmer over the UK’s refusal to get involved in strikes against Iran.
In an effort to stabilise global markets amid soaring prices, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea, despite Moscow’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
It comes after the UK defence secretary, John Healey, warned Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, and that Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”.
Russia said it was “increasingly inevitable” that the US would lift sanctions. Washington is “effectively acknowledging the obvious: without Russian oil, the global energy market cannot remain stable”, Russia’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev wrote on Telegram this morning.
Tories continue to accuse government of ‘cover-up’ in Mandelson files
Also this morning, the Conservative party has continued to accuse the government of a “cover-up” over the release of files relating to Peter Mandelson becoming US ambassador.
In a letter to the standards watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus, shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart suggested there was “missing” correspondence in the published material.
Details of Mandelson’s appointment and subsequent sacking from the Washington role were disclosed in documents published on Wednesday in response to a “humble address” motion – a parliamentary manoeuvre that can be used as a way of extracting something from the government. Officially a petition to the monarch, it is used for reasons including calling for papers from departments headed by a secretary of state.
Burghart said that complying only partially with the humble address may be a contempt of parliament, as he called on Magnus to investigate a “potential cover-up”.
Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said the government had published the “wrong versions of the documents”.
He told Times Radio: “There are documents that are clearly withheld … we don’t know what the contents of those documents are.
“At some point in the future, they may well be released, but the documents that have been put in the public domain are the wrong versions of the documents.
“They are the documents that give advice from the officials, but not the decisions from ministers.”
Energy minister Michael Shanks rejected the accusations, saying the government has complied fully with the demand of MPs and would be publishing further documents in due course.
“There’s been no cover-up at all, Downing Street is releasing the documents,” he told Sky News.
“Unfortunately, there are elements of those documents that currently, because of the Metropolitan police investigation, not everything has been published, but it will be.”
Rising heating oil prices ‘a huge worry’, says energy minister
Energy minister Michael Shanks said concerns over the rising cost of heating oil are “clearly a huge worry”, as prices almost trebled since the start of the Iran war.
When asked about the impact of soaring oil prices on households, he told Sky News: “We’ve been really clear with the Competition and Markets Authority that we wouldn’t stand for any profiteering or price gouging.
“We’re really clear that the cost of living is the government’s number one priority. So we will do whatever we can to make sure prices are fair, that consumer protections are in place, and that we’re doing whatever we can to bring down the cost of living.”
He said the energy price cap will be in place until the end of June, but when asked about households that rely on heating oil – which is not covered by the cap – he responded: “It’s clearly a huge worry.
“Because it’s a just in time market, the prices are fed through really quickly into the cost of heating oil. I’ve met various industry players a number of times. I’ve spoken to the CMA about making sure we’re tracking the price.”
An estimated 1.7m households rely on heating oil across the UK, and in Northern Ireland it is the primary heating source for two-thirds of households. It is typically a form of kerosene so prices are linked to the cost of jet fuel.
UK economy unexpectedly flatlined in January, official figures show
Richard Partington
The UK economy entered the Middle East crisis after a weak start to the year, according to official figures showing flatlining January output before the US-Israel war on Iran hit global energy prices.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 0% growth in gross domestic product (GDP), down from an increase of 0.1% in December, as the economy failed to recover from uncertainty surrounding the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.
Falling significantly short of City predictions for growth of 0.2%, the figures came as the UK and other countries faced a potentially severe economic hit as the Middle East conflict drove up oil and gas prices, hitting consumers with higher living costs.
Read the full report here:
Opening summary: Reeves to tell petrol bosses she ‘will not tolerate’ wartime profiteering
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has asked the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to “crack down” on “rip off” fuel prices as she prepares to meet energy bosses amid concerns companies are profiteering off the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
The conflict in the Middle East is driving oil prices higher, fuelling concerns that households could face an even harsher cost of living crisis.
In a letter to the CMA, Reeves she “will not tolerate any company exploiting the current crisis to make excess profits at customers’ expense”. She requested the CMA to stay on “high alert” for “unjustifiable” price hikes.
The Treasury said Reeves and energy secretary Ed Miliband will also press petrol retailers and energy suppliers to ensure drivers are not left paying “over the odds” in a Downing Street meeting today, the PA news agency reported.
Oil prices have again topped $100 a barrel as widespread Iranian attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East overshadowed a vast release of government reserves.
Tomasz Wieladek, chief European macro economist at investment management firm T. Rowe Price, warned this morning that the oil price shock hitting the global economy could push the UK into recession.
“The war in the Middle East and the consequent oil price rise will raise inflation and reduce consumer spending,” he said.
In other news:
The Conservative party continue to accuse the government of a “cover-up” after it released documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s 2024 appointment as ambassador to the US. Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said the government published the “wrong versions of the documents”, while shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart suggested there was “missing” correspondence in the published material. Downing Street has rejected the accusations.
The UK economy entered the Middle East crisis after a weak start to the year, according to official figures showing flatlining January output before the US-Israel war on Iran hit global energy prices. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 0% growth in gross domestic product (GDP), down from an increase of 0.1% in December, as the economy failed to recover from uncertainty surrounding Reeves’s autumn budget.
Prime minister Keir Starmer could suffer further resignations when ministerial WhatsApp messages are published in the next tranche of the Mandelson files, senior government sources have told the Guardian. Starmer apologised again yesterday over his handling of Mandelson’s appointment, saying: “It was me that made a mistake, and it’s me that makes the apology to the victims of [Jeffrey] Epstein, and I do that.”
Stay with us for all the developments.
