Sir Keir Starmer has been handed scathing criticism for blaming Britain’s cost-of-living crisis on the “Iran war”.
Speaking to GB News, journalist Clare Muldoon hit out at the Prime Minister’s remarks, making clear that the conflict only began “three weeks ago” in comparison to the ongoing cost-of-living struggles.
In a press conference to the nation today, Sir Keir announced a £53million support package for heating oil customers, as the Iran war pushes fuel prices higher for Britons.
He said: “We will continue to work towards a swift resolution of the situation in the Middle East because there is no question, ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.
“And look, it’s moments like this that tell you what a Government is about. My answer is clear, whatever the challenges that 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 throughout this crisis.”
Reacting to the announcement, Ms Muldoon claimed that the Prime Minister has “just gone back to zero now for me”.
She said: “Build the UK’s domestic energy guarantees, that should he have been doing. How can he blame the cost of living standards in this country on this Iran war that has just started almost three weeks ago? This is ridiculous.
Clare Muldoon has hit out at Keir Starmer for blaming the Iran war on Britain’s cost of living crisis
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GB NEWS / PA
“This is a Prime Minister who doesn’t bode well for the future. This is a Prime Minister who doesn’t really listen to the temperature of the British democracy of British people.”
Agreeing with Ms Muldoon, political commentator Matthew Torbitt highlighted that the cost-of-living crisis has been around for “quite some time now”, and the fresh fuel crisis will force Britons to “pinch the pennies” even more.
He argued: “I thought the speech started very strong, and it spoke to me as a man who probably is free of the shackles of his former chief of staff, he looked like he believed what he was saying, which you can’t always say of Keir Starmer, I think he’s quite inauthentic at times.
“I think he went a little bit wobbly in the middle, it’s a bit dry and announcing stuff that you want to do, and I like the idea of being able to look at where is your cheapest petrol station is, but the unintended consequences I’m concerned about is queues at petrol forecourts.”
Keir Starmer has addressed the ‘attacks’ on his Iran response, declaring ‘time will show that we were right’
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POOLDiscussing the possible rise in fuel duty come September, Mr Torbitt argued that the Labour Government is “hedging their bets” on a deal with Donald Trump.
He explained: “I appreciate why the Treasury does it and wants to bring in lots of money, but I think they’re hedging their bets because ultimately Donald Trump is quite unpredictable.
“We could have a deal by the end of the week, depending on who’s in his ear. No one from the public is going to go and vote at petrol forecourts next year, what they will do is blame the Government and go, why is it out of control? This is your fault.”
He predicted: “So ultimately I think he’s trying to get ahead of it. They’ve got to hedge their bets because this may go on, according to certain reports in America, till the November midterms.
Ms Muldoon told GB News that Keir Starmer is a ‘Prime Minister who doesn’t bode well for the future’
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GB NEWS
“You cannot see the Iranians giving up, so I think it’s wise to sort of hedge your bets for now and say, let’s see what happens come September.”
Calling on Sir Keir to take a “stronger line” with Mr Trump in their communications on Iran, Ms Muldoon concluded: “I think you have to take a stronger line with Trump and give Trump some of his language back to him.
“Perhaps he might actually get more respect from Trump because we need answers, we need a pathway globally out of this war.
“And what Iran have done is actually held the West to ransom with economics, not with warfare, which is what we’ve been doing with the Israelis and America is pushing that, but they have come after us economically.”