𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nick Ferrari tore into a minister during a furious LBC confrontation over Labour’s lack of action on the fuel crisis. Donald Trump’s war against Iran has sparked a surge in global oil prices after Tehran responded by shutting the key Strait of Hormuz transport route.

That has pushed fuel costs up by 20% in parts of the UK, with the price of unleaded petrol soaring past 150p a litre at the end of last week. The cost of filling up the average family car is £10.56 more than it was in the days before the US started attacking Iran with Israel at the end of February. Yet while Ferrari pointed out that nations such as France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland and others have moved quickly to soften the blow for drivers, Labour has not announced any financial support in the UK.

In a furious showdown with Chief Secretary of the Treasury James Murray on his Tuesday breakfast show, he lampooned the Government’s creation of a fuel price tracker.

“I can take you round the world and they’re taking definitive action, and we’ve got a website? Seriously?

“Thirty-one days this conflict has gone on, and for virtually 31 days the price has gone up. All the Government’s got is the fuel finder tracker? That’s it?”

But Ferrari was left sighing in total frustration after Mr Murray kept insisting the Government had done more by extending a 5p cut in fuel duty until September.

“We’re not attacking the VAT or the excise duty as they’re doing in all the other countries,” said Ferrari in protest.

The LBC host then forcefully interrupted Mr Murray when the minister claimed Ms Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer were making “contingency plans”.

“You are making an extra £20million a day as businesses are going to the wall.”

Mr Murray responded by saying that as energy costs rise, people spend less on other items, which often reduces the Government’s overall tax take.