Starmer to chair Cobra meeting on Iran war economic fallout tomorrow – UK politics live

If there is a Commons debate tomorrow on allegations that Keir Starmer lied to MPs about Peter Mandelson’s vetting for his appointment as ambassador to the US, it may coincide with Keir Starmer chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the economic consequences of the Iran war. A scheduling clash like that would allow No 10 to make the argument that Starmer is focusing on important issues that matter to voters while the opposition is obsessed with Westminster procedure (although Downing Street would prefer the privileges inquiry debate not to go ahead in the first place).

Starmer announced the Cobra meeting in his speech to the Usdaw conference.

He got perhaps his loudest applause during the speech when he confirmed that the UK will not be joining the US war against Iran. He said:

double quotation markWhatever happens in the Middle East, we’ve cut your energy bills, and we have capped them until July.

Delegates, that’s another thing that I will always stand firm on. I will never let this country be dragged into a war that is not in our interests. Never.

As the applause died away, Starmer went on:

double quotation markThat is a lesson British politics should have learned a long time ago with Iraq.

And yet, when the rush to war began on Iran, I was heavily criticised by others who had no thought for the consequences for our country, for your family.

But that is not how I operate, because I have working people in my mind’s eye for every decision.

And yet, delegates, I have to level with you about Iran because the truth is the economic consequences could still be with us for some time. You don’t have to be a politician to know that. You can see it on every petrol forecourt across the country …

We are monitoring this daily. So, delegates, for example, tomorrow I’m chairing a meeting in Cobra on the impact, bringing in people from the Bank of England, so you can be sure we will stand by working people in this crisis.