Politics Home Article | PM Warns Re-Opening Strait Of Hormuz “Will Not Be Easy”

Keir Starmer spoke from Downing Street on Wednesday morning as the Iran war entered its second month (Alamy)

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Speaking on Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister said that while the Iran war “will impact the future of our country”, the UK is “well placed to weather it”.

“I want to reassure the British people that no matter how fierce this storm, we are well-placed to weather it, and that we have a long-term plan to emerge from it a stronger and more secure nation.”

Starmer announced that Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host a meeting with 35 nations on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz later this week, with military planners to also “look at how we can marshal our capabilities and make the strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped”.

But he said: “I do have to level with people on this. This will not be easy.”

The PM said “the most effective way” to alleviate the cost of living in Britain is to push for “de-escalation in the Middle East, a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz”.

Significant proportions of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, making it a vital shipping lane.

However, traffic through the lane has plummeted since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, with Tehran threatening to attack ships passing through it.

The disruption is causing energy prices to increase around the world, and there are also concerns about the impact it could have on food prices. The Food and Drink Federation has estimated that food inflation will hit 9 per cent in the UK this year as a result of the conflict.

On Wednesday, several measures aimed at tackling the cost of living come into force, including increases to the national living wage and the national minimum wage, support for households using heating oil, and money off energy bills.

However, the government is expected to announce further support for households most exposed to rising energy prices in the coming weeks, with household bills expected to rise significantly when the Ofgem price cap expires in July.

The war in Iran has now entered its second month, after the US and Israel began a series of strikes on Iran in February this year. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US would pull out of Iran in “two or three weeks” and is set to give an “important update” on the war in the early hours of Thursday morning.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to the US would go ahead this month, despite Trump having repeatedly attacked the UK in public over its refusal to play a greater part in the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

On Monday, Starmer reiterated that the Iran conflict is “not our [the UK’s] war”.

PM says Iran war shows UK must be closer to EU

Speaking from Downing Street this morning, Starmer said that it is “increasingly clear” in light of the war in the Middle East that the UK’s “long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union.”

The Prime Minister indicated that he wanted to take the UK even closer to the bloc’s single market as part of a major reset, announcing that there would be a new summit with the EU later this year.

“We want to be more ambitious, closer economic cooperation, closer security cooperation, a partnership that recognises our shared values, our shared interest and our shared future, a partnership for the dangerous world that we must navigate together, a world where this government will be guided, at all times, by the interests of the British people.”