The military action America and Israel launched against the Iranian regime continues to unfold with consequences here at home. Thousands of UK citizens visiting, living and working, or transiting through the region continue to be affected. Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are affecting fuel prices which are being felt at the pump, and most immediately for people restocking heating oil.
Since the ballistic missile launches, strikes against nuclear sites and other targets began, I have been contacted by constituents, or their families, really worried about being caught up in the fallout from the indiscriminate attacks launched by Iran on Gulf neighbours. With flights cancelled and disrupted, I have been supporting them through the Foreign Office, particularly in cases of vulnerable people. The advice remains to register with the Foreign Office to get the latest updates and assistance.
This is a very serious situation and the feedback I have had is communication from the government on repatriation and advice has been too limited. While recognising the scale of the challenge, this needs to improve and I will continue to raise cases for people affected by the action.
With a disruption of supplies, there has also been a marked spike in heating oil costs. Over 1.5 million households nationally, and 21,600 in North West Norfolk, are off the gas grid and many rely on oil for their heating. There has been common cause among MPs that poor practices are in play. For example, orders placed before the conflict are being unilaterally revised reducing quantities and increasing prices. New minimum order levels are being set. That’s why I joined with over 50 Conservative colleagues to call on the Competition and Markets Authority to urgently investigate and take swift action against unfair practices.
President Trump is often defined by his unpredictability and sees it as a sign of strength. So we cannot know whether this conflict will shortly end or endure further. Our focus should be on the UK national interest and ensuring the impact of the attacks and instability they are creating are mitigated as far as possible – with a hope that effects are short-lived but having a plan ready if they are not.
As I said on various media outlets in the last week, we did not choose the timing or scope of this military action. The USA and Israel did so based on their assessment of threats from the terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime. But when events happen you must react and support your allies and interests, and it is disappointing the government does not seem to have been properly prepared to defend our base in Cyprus, or take other action when the military build up has been happening for weeks.
These events once again underline the importance of strengthening the readiness, availability, and lethality of our Armed Forces. On capabilities, expensive missiles are being used to stop drones that Ukrainian forces have sadly had to master stopping by using much cheaper interceptors. We need to ramp up our own plans and domestic capability. And, it is not acceptable that so many of our destroyers are not available, nor that we rely on allies to defend our bases. Ultimately, we need to see the Defence Investment Plan initially promised by the government last Autumn - but has still not been published - urgently.
In turbulent times, the UK interest is in defending our interests and values and limiting any damaging impacts on families as far as possible.
