The Prime Minister will hold a Downing Street press conference after speaking to Dоnɑld Tгuмρ on Sunday

Sir Keir Starmer

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𝘒𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳(Image: Getty Images)

𝘒𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 is set to address the nation today as the war in the Middle East goes on for a third week.

The Prime Minister will hold a Downing Street press conference on Monday (March 16) where he is expected to pledge to help households with the cost of living amid the energy price spike caused by the war. The press conference will also come after Sir Keir appeared to resist Dоnɑld Tгuмρ’s calls to send warships to the region, following a phone call between the leaders on Sunday.

The Prime Minister is expected to say that helping UK households with living costs is his ‘first priority’. He is set to announce a subsidy for those who use heating oil to warm their homes, after they faced price spikes caused by the war.

He will also use the conference to criticise his domestic political rivals Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage over their approach to the Iran crisis. Sir Keir is expected to say: “Moments like this also tell you about leadership… Now, there are others who would have made a different decision two weeks ago.

“They would have rushed the UK headlong into this war without the full picture of what they were sending our forces into and without a plan to get us out. That’s not leading, it’s following.

“My leadership is about standing firm for the British interest. No matter the pressure. And I believe time will show that we have the right approach.

“Right on the economy and the cost of living. Right on defence and energy. And right on this war, in the best interests of the British people.”

Sir Keir on Sunday did not heed calls from Mr Trump to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route in the Middle East being blockaded by Iran. Instead, Britain is currently mulling over the possibility of sending mine-hunting drones to the region amid worries of an Iranian build-up of explosives in the narrow sea passage.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Trump reiterated his call for allied assistance in the Straight of Hormuz, telling the paper: “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there.”

He also said Nato faces a ‘very bad’ future should its member states fail to help, adding: “We’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us.”

The Prime Minister’s heating oil announcement today will come after after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Treasury officials have ‘found the money’ to help the 1.5 million households relying on the fuel. Heating oil is not protected by the energy price cap and its price per litre has doubled as a result of the stranglehold on oil leaving the Middle East since the US-Israeli war with Iran began.

Sir Keir will also raise concerns about claims that suppliers of heating oil have cancelled orders and then jacked up prices. Last week, Ms Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband met oil firm bosses and forecourt operators to warn them against profiteering.

In his press conference, Sir Keir will say: “I will not tolerate companies trying to exploit this crisis to make money from working people… if the companies have broken the law, there will be legal action.”

De-escalation of the war is the quickest way to reduce cost-of-living pressures for the British public, the Prime Minister will insist. Sir Keir on Sunday spoke to Mr Trump for the first time since the US president called for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

The pair ‘discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide’, a Downing Street spokeswoman said. But there was no response from the Prime Minister to the President’s call for the UK and other nations impacted by the blockade to send warships to the region to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain is ‘intensively’ looking at what it can do to help reopen the route, Mr Miliband said on Sunday. The military could send mine-hunting drones to the region, defence sources have said, as the Government seeks to stave off criticism from Mr Trump for ignoring his call for warships.