The Chancellor has promised to clamp down on firms exploiting the war in Iran to raise prices at the pump and in supermarkets, as petrol hit its highest level since 2022.
John Healey made the pledge in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, claiming regulators have “the powers to clamp down on it if it happens.”.
Healey has not set out a plan of his own, but his pledge echoes one made by his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, in May, much of which has not yet been used.
It comes as petrol prices climbed to 160p a litre, the highest its been since November 2022 when it hit 162.78p, according to the RAC, after Iran renewed disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Food price inflation, by contrast, slowed to 1.7 per cent in the year to June – its lowest rate in nearly two years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
