Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain must learn from the resilience shown during the Iran war, warning that the conflict should serve as a wake-up call to make the UK less vulnerable to global shocks.
In a Sunday statement on his social media accounts on the Middle East crisis, the Labour leader said the fallout from the war was already being felt across the country, from rising energy bills to community tensions.
He argued that Britain could no longer afford to lurch from crisis to crisis, desperately trying to return to the status quo.
“The Iran war has been a warning to us. Britain must build up its resilience – both at home and with our allies in Europe. We should not be at the mercy of events abroad”, Starmer said.
His comments came as the conflict between Iran and Israel, which escalated sharply last month, continues to disrupt global supply chains and fuel inflation. The war, triggered by Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile barrage on Israeli territory, has drawn in proxy forces across the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In the UK, the conflict has reignited fears of a prolonged cost-of-living squeeze. Oil prices spiked by nearly 15 per cent in the days following Iran’s first direct strike on Israel, pushing petrol back above 155p a litre at some forecourts. Meanwhile, the government has faced criticism for being slow to update its contingency plans for a wider regional war.
Starmer did not call for direct military involvement, but said Britain must strengthen partnerships with European allies, who he said had reacted more swiftly to the crisis with coordinated sanctions and energy-sharing agreements.
“We can’t manage this crisis by desperately trying to return to how things were before. That is why we will build a Britain that is stronger, more secure and more resilient. That is what this moment demands and it’s my focus”, he said.
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