KEIR Starmer was lambasted for failing to set out how his government will support struggling households after he delivered an update on the Iran war.
The Prime Minister told MPs Britain’s focus was on maintaining free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz just as Donald Trump began his naval blockade of the vital Middle Eastern shipping route.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Starmer said: “My guide from the start of this conflict has always been our national interest. That’s why we stayed out of the war, and why we continue to stay out of the war.
“And that is why we are working now to restore freedom of navigation in the Middle East, because that is squarely in our national interest.”
But in his statement, the Prime Minister failed to set out new measures to ease the cost of living pressures mounting on households as a result of the war – which experts have warned are going to leave the average working family more than £400 worse off by the end of this financial year .
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader said: “The Prime Minister is absolutely right to condemn the abhorrent response of the terrorists in the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] but I notice from his statement that there’s no explicit condemnation of illegality of Donald Trump’s actions.
“There’s no explicit condemnation of the illegality of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s actions. And, despite having the entire Easter break to think about it, there is explicitly no new financial support for households on these isles whatsoever.”
Flynn pointed to action by the Irish government to put in place a package worth more than €750 million amid widespread protests over the cost of fuel , and mocked the Prime Minister who he claimed could merely “continue to monitor the effects”.
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The SNP MP added: “Now I appreciate that he might not be in office for very much longer but whilst he is, the public expect to provide support. Why isn’t he?”
Starmer replied: “I’ll remind him that we put in support and protection for our citizens in the region by taking defensive action. He opposed that. Protection for Scottish citizens in the Gulf and they opposed taking any action whatsoever.
“It is only because we’ve stabilised the economy we are able to reduce energy bills. What did they do? They voted against the budget in which we put forward the money for this.
“So we will carefully do the work that we need to do to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is the single most effective thing we can do in relation to household costs and to work for de-escalation.
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"I would have thought he would have supported that but unfortunately, again, he’s on the opportunistic road rather than the road to support what we really need to do.”
Labour cut and froze energy bills from April 1 but have made no indication of potential future support when the price cap is lifted from the start of July.
Elsewhere in his diplomatic update to Parliament, Starmer said he would seek “a closer economic relationship with our European allies because Brexit did deep damage to the economy”.
Minutes before Starmer began speaking Trump posted a stark threat to Iran, saying its navy would be targeted in the same manner as the US’s brutal and illegal strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the seas around South America.
In a post to his Truth Social platform, the US president said: “Iran’s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships. What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, ‘fast attack ships,’ because we did not consider them much of a threat.
“Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal.”
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