The chancellor is set to meet with energy bosses over concerns that companies are profiteering from oil and gas prices
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Chancellor
Rachel Reeves
has asked the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA),
to “crack down” on “rip off” fuel prices
as she prepares to meet energy bosses
amid concerns companies are profiteering off the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
The Conservative party continue to
accuse the government of a “cover-up”
after it released documents relating to
Peter Mandelson’s
2024 appointment as ambassador to the US. Shadow housing secretary
James Cleverly
said the government published the “wrong versions of the documents”, while shadow Cabinet Office minister
Alex Burghart
suggested there was “missing” correspondence in the published material. Downing Street has
rejected the accusations.
The UK economy entered the Middle East crisis after a weak start to the year, according to official figures showing
flatlining January output before the US-Israel war on Iran hit global energy prices.
Figures from the
Office for National Statistics
(ONS) showed 0% growth in gross domestic product (GDP), down from an increase of 0.1% in December, as the economy failed to recover from uncertainty surrounding Reeves’s autumn budget.
Prime minister
Keir Starmer
could suffer further resignations
when ministerial WhatsApp messages are published in the next tranche of the Mandelson files, senior government sources have told the Guardian. Starmer apologised again yesterday over his handling of Mandelson’s appointment, saying: “It was me that made a mistake, and it’s me that makes the apology to the victims of [Jeffrey] Epstein, and I do that.”
Continue reading...