'Other countries get fuel relief, we get a website': Minister skewered over lack of help for struggling British drivers
Britain is yet to respond to the global energy crisis, which has seen crude oil prices surge by 60% since the US and Israel began attacking Iran
A government minister stressed Downing Street had made reducing fuel costs its "number one priority" despite currently failing to take steps to ease prices.
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Britain is yet to respond to the global energy crisis, which has seen crude oil prices surge by 60% since the US and Israel began attacking Iran.
A growing number of countries including Australia, Spain and Poland have announced measures to tackle the soaring prices, but the Starmer government is yet to follow suit.
Read more: Starmer to chair emergency Cobra meeting as Iran war fuels economic crisis
Read more: Energy bills 'set to soar by £288 more a year' due to Iran war
The only real action taken so far is the creation of an official fuel finder website, which provides live forecourt information to motorists looking for petrol.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray was pressed on the Government's slow response to the fuel price crisis by LBC' Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
The host asked the minister what the government planned to do to help desperate drivers, who were paying more than £1.80 for a litre of diesel and £1.52 for petrol, while the government made a reported £20 million a day from the price increases.
But Mr Murray claimed that the government had already played its part in keeping fuel prices down "because of the 5p cut being extended to September".
He also confirmed the increased VAT windfall for the government, adding: "If the VAT receipts from energy increase. That can often be because people are spending less money on other goods and items.
"And that can mean overall, where people pay VAT shifts to energy and fuel. Because energy and fuel are typically at 5% rather than the standard 20% that can actually mean overall revenue goes down. It's not as straightforward as people make out."
It comes as Sir Keir prepares to chair an emergency Cobra meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where senior ministers will discuss the economic impact of the Iran war.
The Prime Minister said he will hold the crisis talks to “make sure that everything that we need to have in place, everything is monitored and audited properly”.
Starmer also met business chiefs in Downing Street on Monday and told them that it must be a “joint effort” to tackle the impact of the war, saying the Government "can’t do it on its own".
Bosses from energy, shipping and banking firms were invited to Number 10 to discuss Iran’s ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted a vital shipping route for the oil and gas industry.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is yet to trim duty on fuel at the pumps despite seeing an £8billion windfall generated from a combination of higher VAT income on fuel, the levy on North Sea profits, and "excess profit" taxes on power generators.
New figures show the Middle East crisis has caused the highest price difference between diesel and petrol since 2003.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said white van drivers were currently "bleeding cash just to stay on the road" as the average price of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts rose to 179.9p on Sunday, 28.5p more than petrol (151.4p).
Mr Murray said "everyone is facing uncertainty and worry" about the cost of living in response to the Middle East conflict, adding: "It's important that any action we take is done in a targeted way to keep the overall costs down.
"What we have seen in the past is large, untargeted unfunded interventions, which mean we will still have to pay it back in the future because it increases debt and inflation. It's important we step into help people, but we do so in a responsible way."