Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on the Middle East conflict driving up inflation

The UK inflation rate rose by 3.3 percent in the year to March, after the US-Israel war with Iran caused the largest jump in petrol and diesel prices in over three years.

The increase in the pace of price rises - up from 3 percent in the year to February - was in line with economists' expectations.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey explained further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Even Gevin Gray UK correspondences with us Elogevin Hi the
heather Well, it looked like that thing with sir Oli
went quite badly for Sirkia, did it?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yes, not perhaps the most comfortable day. In fact, this
is the seventh day in a row that the self
inflicted damage of the Lord Mandelsson saga has rained down
on the Prime Minister. And yesterday was yet another example
of this. We went through the MINUTIAI it might be
said of the Prime Minister's consequential, so consequential decision for

(00:29):
appointing Lord Peter Mandlson, somebody who'd already had to leave
government twice under Tony Blair, was his personal appointment to
become the UK ambassador to the US. He only lasted
a few months when revelations from the Epstein files revealed
that he was a much closer friend of the pedophile
disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein than had first been thought, and

(00:52):
who had appointed him, well, Sekir Starmer had appointed him.
And now the Secretary General of the Trade Union Force
CIVI service says and I quote, I think the Prime
Minister is losing the ability to work with the civil
Service who in the civil service would now think that
they would be immune from when it comes to politically
expedient to be dismissed. So in other words, you know

(01:15):
who would go for a job there, who would want
to work with the Prime Minister when he has sacked
Olie Robbins, who is the former senior civil servant within
the Foreign Office, for something which he believes he was
doing his job. He was actually doing playing things by
the book, and yet he was dismissed by Sekiir Starmer
and it was he giving evidence yesterday which was pretty

(01:36):
damning and incidentally, to me, one of the things which
has made some minor headlines, but only minor, was that
the former director of communications for Sekir Starmer, it's alleged
Sekir's office had asked to try and get him a
job as an ambassador. So gone are the days when
it used to be a career diplomat. Now it's friends
of friends where it's being alleged that the Prime Minister

(01:58):
has been trying to get jobs from them, and frankly
not a good look, okay.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
So I mean, this is a problem for Sirkia on
so many fronts, and I have seen some commentators say
they don't believe that he can survive this.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
What do you think, Well, look, I think at the
moment most labor MPs are just annoyed and infuriated. But
the big thing is Heather in what is it now?
Two weeks two and a half weeks time we go
to the opinion poles that they are voting booth for
our local council elections, and I think those labor MPs

(02:32):
that can, certainly the MPs of the Prime Minister, are
keeping their powder dry, waiting to see just how bad
these results are going to be. They know they're going
to lose a lot of councilors across the UK. They're
waiting to see how bad that's going to be, and
then I think the knives will be out for Sekeir Starmer. So,
although you might not think this is brought about is
downfall in the long run, I think it might after

(02:55):
that vote in the first week of May.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, all right now, and what's going on with your inflation?
Is it up again?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeahup up again and not looking great actually, so up
to three point three percent and that was a rise
up from three percent the month before, in line with
economists expectations, but it's the largest jump in petrol and
diesel prices over the last three years that has really
contributed to it. The Chance that says this is not
our war, referring to Iran and America, but it is

(03:25):
pushing up bills for families and businesses. They say they've
introduced a number of different measures to help keep costs down.
But among the big things, airfares have surged twenty four
percent on average, so they are up twenty four percent
on a year ago. And they believe it or not,
there's a quote here a London to Melbourne flight in

(03:46):
June now costs seventy six percent more than last year, So,
in other words, that's rocketed by that. Lufthansa Airlines cutting
thousands of short haul flights, and petrol theft in the
UK up sixty two percent. People fill the car, the
average family car now costing some thirty four New Zealand
dollars more to fill.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Amazing. Hey Gvin, thank you mate. We'll talk to you
in a couple of days. Look after yourself. Kevin Gray,
UK correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
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