The Chancellor said she was ‘angry’ at the US President Donald Trump over the conflict with the Iranian regime and made clear it will have an impact on the UK economy
Rachel Reeves has lashed out at Donald Trump for his decision to launch a war in the Middle East with no clear exit plan.
The Chancellor said she was “angry” at the US President over the conflict with the Iranian regime and made clear it will have an impact on the UK economy. It came after Keir Starmer used a Downing Street press conference to warn the conflict shows UK must move closer to Europe as Trump also threatened to pull out of Nato.
Speaking on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show, the Chancellor, who is grappling with impacts of the conflict at home, said: “I’m angry that Donald Trump has chosen to go to war in the Middle East – a war that there’s not a clear plan of how to get out of it.
“It’s why we didn’t want to enter this. Yes it will have implications for our economy, I get that. We are monitoring very closely what’s happening – trying to bring the oil and gas into the UK so that those supplies are there and get the prices down. We are monitoring the situation very carefully.”
“We are preparing – as you would expect me to be – for every single eventuality to make sure there alongside people, standing beside them, keeping costs down for everyone.”
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Ms Reeves also dismissed the idea of a “tax windfall” for the Treasury amid a spike in prices at the pump as “for the birds”. Earlier this week, the Times reported the government is raking in an extra £20million a day in extra revenue though taxes linked to the price of oil and gas.
But at the same time the cost of government borrowing has soared. The Chancellor said today: “Let’s be clear since Trump started this war cost which we disagree with the cost of borrowing for government has gone through the roof.
“The revenues were likely to get through on income tax and capital gains tax are likely to come down because the economy is likely to be weaker. So the idea there’s any windfall coming to the Treasury – that’s just for the birds.”
Earlier the Chancellor told BBC Breakfast government support for energy bills pushed up by the Iran war would be based on household income. Ms Reeves said: “Judge me on my actions because, ever since I became Chancellor almost two years ago, I have been doing everything in my power to drive down the cost of living.
“We want to keep down prices for everyone and then also, have more targeted support. At the moment we’re working on a range of contingencies and we are looking at more targeted measures. We’re looking at ways in which we can support people based on their household income, and we’re working through that at the moment.
“Last time when energy prices shot up, the previous government hadn’t done the work on how they could target that support. That is why we’re working very hard at the moment to build new models, to make sure that support goes to those who need it most.”