Starmer 'deserves credit' for handling of Iran war but must do more to help Britons with rising costs, says Sir Ed Davey
The Liberal Democrats leader told LBC the Prime Minister to go further as fuel prices surge.
Sir Keir Starmer deserves some credit for his handling of the Middle East war but needs to go much further to protect Britons from the rising cost of living, Sir Ed Davey had told LBC.
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Speaking to Lewis Goodall on Sunday, the Liberal Democrats leader called on the Prime Minister to do more to support people struggling with rising costs due to the war.
It comes as fuel costs have surged following the outbreak of the Iran war, which has led to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit route for much of the global oil supply, being blocked as fighting rages on.
Sir Ed said: “Cut the cost of red diesel, the excise duty on that. It could help [with] heating oil. It could really fast track the discussions with Europe.”
“We're not claiming to be fair, that there's some silver bullet that can change it overnight. But the problem is Westminster has not been debating this. It's been debating energy prices and fuel prices.”
It comes Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned today that the war will “come at a cost to British families and businesses”.
Sir Ed agreed: “There is this disaster ready to hit our country in the autumn. Families are going to really struggle."
He added: "We saw after Russia's illegal attack on Ukraine something similar. Food price inflation really peaked. We've got to be thinking about it. We put forward some ideas. We want to work with others to try to make sure we can mitigate some of this disaster that's happening.”
But Sir Ed said the Prime Minister does deserve some credit, particularly for distancing himself from Trump over his stance on the Iran war.
He said: “I've given the Prime Minister some credit. He's called this one right. He has called the rest of his relationship with Donald Trump wrong. I've been quite critical of him up until this point.”
Sir Ed added that the Prime Minister’s initial approach of trying to keep Donald Trump on side by avoiding calling out his actions “hasn’t worked”.
“That's why he's changed, and I welcome that. However, he could do more.
“I think he could be working with our European allies far closer, our G7 allies in the Gulf.
He is doing some of that, but that is really what we need to really ramp up the diplomatic options.”
It comes as Britain is set to host further talks on reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane with a coalition of countries next week.
The Strait was supposed to reopen after two-week ceasefire agreement was made between Iran and the US last week. However, Israel never agreed to the terms and continued to bomb Lebanon.
The prompted talks in Pakistan last night as US and Iranian negotiators scrambled to salvage the shaky ceasefire deal.
But after 21 hours, no deal was reached as US Vice President JD Vance and his negotiating team left Islamabad empty-handed.
Sir Keir Starmer has urged the US and Iran “to find a way through” after the failure of peace talks, as he also called for the fragile ceasefire to continue and warned against any further escalation.
The Prime Minister discussed Washington and Tehran’s negotiations with the Sultan of Oman on Sunday.
In a readout of Sir Keir’s call with His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik al Said, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “They discussed the peace talks held in Pakistan over the weekend and urged both sides to find a way through.
“It was vital there was a continuation of the ceasefire, and that all parties avoided any further escalation, the leaders agreed.”