MORE support for families struggling with rocketing heating bills and petrol prices will be unveiled next week, Boris Johnson hinted today.
Putin’s murderous war has spiked global oil and gas costs, stinging drivers at the pumps with eyewatering £2 litres in some places.
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The PM this morning fuelled hopes he will further shield Brits when he lays out his energy strategy and Rishi Sunak gives a mini Budget next week.
Speaking on a fly-by visit to the Gulf he said: “If you look at what Putin is doing in Ukraine, it’s causing global uncertainty and a spike in the price of oil.
“That feeds through to the forecourts in the UK. Everybody can see the effect of the increase in gas prices that’s coming through.
“And we’ve got to make sure that we’re prepared, and we’re taking steps to mitigate that to help people with the cost of living.”
The Chancellor is under enormous pressure to cut fuel duty to save motorists from crippling petrol prices.
The Treasury is clawing in unprecedented tax revenues from drivers because of the sky-high prices, furthering the argument to give them a break.
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Mr Johnson last week announced Britain will ban Russian oil by the end of the year so we are not at the mercy of a despotic regime.
While pledging to turbo-charge oil drilling in the North Sea and fire up nuclear power stations, he is also begging the oil rich Gulf states for help.
He is visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia today despite the countries’ barbaric use of execution and poor record of human rights.
Mr Johnson said: “It’s not just a question of looking at the Opec countries and what they can do to increase supply, though that is important.
“There’s also the issue of Emirati investment in UK wind farms, already huge; what more can they do? We need to double the pace of our construction of wind farms.
“We’re already one of the biggest producers of offshore wind power in the world.
“When we look at the dependency that the West in particular has built up on Putin’s hydrocarbons, on Putin’s oil and gas, we can see what a mistake that was because he’s been able to blackmail the West to hold Western economies to ransom. We need independence.”
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