Prime Minister Keir Starmer writes for the Mirror on plans to ease the burden on struggling households as Rachel Reeves prepares to set out a raft of cost of living measures
Britain did not attack Iran, and under my leadership we will never be dragged into a conflict that is not in our national interest.
But while ships carrying fuel and other goods are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, we are still affected. The whole world is. You can see it at the petrol pumps. Before the war, prices were close to a five-year low. Now, they are pushing £1.60 a litre for unleaded.
I know how worrying that is for working people. And I know it’s not a new feeling too. For decades Britain has been buffeted by crises just like this.
Time and again, under the Tories, something happened in the world – Brexit, Covid, the Ukraine War – but working people paid the price. The status quo failed them.
This time will be different. From day one, this Government has taken the long-term decisions that will make Britain stronger and fairer. That is the only way to tear down this status quo once and for all.
We need to strengthen our energy security, by investing in clean British energy. We need to strengthen our economy, with stronger public finances that can weather every storm. And we need to strengthen our national security, with defence investment that creates thousands of good British jobs.
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That is exactly what we have been doing since 2024. And it has paid off. Since this conflict began, we have been able to cut energy bills, raise the national living wage and end the two-child benefit cap.
We have frozen prescription charges, frozen train fares and strengthened worker rights. That is all possible only because of the strong foundations we laid.
But now we must go further to support working people at the petrol pumps. At the last budget, we cut fuel duty and froze it until September 2026.
Now, we extend that fuel duty cut until the end of this year. That will put more money in the pockets of every driver in this country. And it will strengthen our economic security.
Yet rising petrol costs don’t just show up at the pumps. They also affect food prices. They raise costs for farmers. They raise costs for lorry drivers. And they make food production more expensive.
So as the Chancellor announced yesterday, we are also giving every haulier a year-long road tax holiday – that alone will save them £913 per vehicle. And we are also slashing duty on farmers’ red diesel to the lowest rate in over 20 years.
That’s not all. Today, I am announcing that this government is easing the burden for parents by giving kids free bus travel across England this August.
Because I know what Mirror readers expect: a government on their side, taking decisions to ease pressures now, and building an economy that works in their interests for the future.
Because at the end of the day, times like this are a test. Throughout the years of crisis the Tories always made working people pay. In contrast, this Government will always stand by them. And we will build a stronger, fairer Britain in their interests.