Kemi Badenoch demands Rachel Reeves must 'apologise' for driving up petrol prices

Kemi Badenoch has accused Rachel Reeves of “price gouging” which has forced up the cost of petrol. The Tory leader also said the Chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer should apologise to petrol companies for claiming they are profiteering from the conflict in the Middle East.

And she attacked the government for going “soft in the head” at a time when worried Britons deserve “hard nosed thinking” to help them through the crisis. Mrs Badenoch hit out as new evidence suggested petrol retailers are not price gouging by rapidly inflating costs. An analysis of fuel price rises at more than 6,000 petrol stations since the conflict in Iran began found that retailers had, on average, increased the cost of petrol by 12.1%.

Of those, only nine forecourts increased their petrol prices more than double the national average.

The average pump price increase is less than the 18% rise in the wholesale cost since the US attacks on Iran began.

Speaking this week Sir Keir said regulators needed to crack down on price gouging as the cost of fuel was climbing rapidly.

But he made the claim to MPs on Monday without presenting evidence to support it.

Mrs Badenoch said petrol retailers deserve an apology.

“Whenever you come out with strong statements against any group, you need to make sure that you've got the evidence,” she said of the analysis carried out by the Times.

“If there is no evidence of price gouging at petrol stations, then yes, they should apologise, because, again, those are the people who are working hard getting up early in the morning. “You know, they're being taxed to the hills.

“They're being blamed for fuel duty price rises, which actually is Rachel Reeves, who's doing the price gouging.

“She's the one doing the price gouging.”

The Conservative leader, who today ramped up demands for the looming fuel duty rise to be axed, added: “This is the time for hard nosed, hard thinking, and they've just gone soft in the head, as far as I'm concerned. It's bizarre.”

Reform UK is calling for an emergency halving of VAT on road fuel to ease the “Trumpflation” pain for drivers.

Robert Jenrick said the move would slash 12p a litre off the cost of petrol and 14p off diesel for the next three months.

The proposal is estimated to have a £1.5billion price tag for the Treasury.

Reform’s economic spokesman said: “The rising costs of fuel are really hitting alarm-clock Britain right now.

“The Chancellor is making tens of millions of pounds a week in extra tax revenue as a direct result of the war; the least she could do is lessen the blow.”

Ms Reeves has so far refused to scrap plans to increase fuel duty in September, although she insists they will be kept under review.

She has made clear any bailout for the Middle East chaos will be targeted, arguing she cannot afford to prop up the “wealthy”.

There has been a rapid rise in prices at the pumps since the war in Iran began.

Petrol has risen by 14p a litre since the start of the month and now costs 147.2p per litre on average, according to the RAC. Diesel costs 171.2p, up almost 29p compared with the end of February.

A Treasury source said: "We took action precisely to prevent companies exploiting this crisis - and if they do, we will clamp down on it - because Labour is on the side of working people.

"This isn’t a war we started or a war we joined; the Tories would have seen us rush headlong into it without a plan.

"We have already acted to reduce average energy bills by £117 from April, and we cancelled the Tories' planned increase in fuel duty after the election, extending the freeze further at the Budget.

"We've intervened immediately to support households with heating oil - faster than the 200 days it took the Conservatives - and we are enabling drivers to find the fairest prices at the pump through the Cheaper Fuel Finder."