Reeves has insisted just now in the House of Commons that the 5p fuel duty rise remains “under review” but poured cold water on calls to scrap the tax hike. She blamed the Tories and said oil prices are falling:
“Well, the price today of of petrol is 8p per litre lower than if I had have followed the plans that were left to me by the previous Conservative government. And from April, they’ll be 11p per liter lower. Of course, we keep these things under review. But if you look at petrol prices oil prices today, they’re 24% lower than they were yesterday. So things are very volatile at the moment which is why as I said yesterday the most important thing we can do to address the cost of living challenges people face is to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East which is exactly what this government are attempting to do.”
Seeing as Starmer has made U-turning the official policy of his government, opposition campaigning against the hike could yet succeed…
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced her speech on migration reforms at the IPPR:
“There’s no denying we meet at a difficult time for my party.”