Sir Keir Starmer will lead a new Cabinet committee to deal with the fallout from the Iran conflict. The group – the Middle East Response Committee – has its first meeting on Tuesday focused on efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping route vital for global oil and gas supplies.
The Prime Minister established the committee to deal with the domestic and international impacts of the war, which has driven up energy prices, caused stock market turmoil and exposed deep divisions between the US and its traditional European allies. No 10 insiders compared the new panel to the committees set up under Tory prime ministers to deal with Brexit preparations and the Covid-19 pandemic.
A source said the “new central structure” would focus on “medium-term scenario planning to respond to developments in the region over the coming weeks and months”. Alongside the ministerial committee – whose full membership has not yet been disclosed – senior officials will meet under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo.
The first meeting’s focus on the Strait of Hormuz comes after Donald Trump announced a blockade of Iranian ports, and as the UK and France prepare to host a summit to consider options for securing the shipping route when hostilities cease. Oil prices retreated back below 100 US dollars a barrel in Tuesday morning trading on hopes US-Iran negotiations may be revived.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said families and businesses across Britain are bearing the cost of instability “they did not cause” as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. Ms Reeves made her comments ahead of the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings in Washington DC, where she is set to urge coordinated action to tackle the global economic shock caused by the war.
Ms Reeves said: “Families and businesses across Britain are bearing the cost of instability they did not cause. These are not costs I wanted, but they are costs we will have to respond to. The Iran conflict must be a line in the sand on how we deal with global crisis and instability.”
