Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the results of the US mid-term elections are an opportunity to tackle the cost of living and end the war in Iran. (Alamy)
2 min read04 November
Heavy losses for Donald Trump’s Republicans in the US present the world with an opportunity to focus on ending the Iran war, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.
“I think people want to see the world coming together, and focusing on the things that matter to people. And that’s what the voters, in my view, are saying in the United States,” Burnham told reporters on Wednesday.
The PM spoke to the media after a devastating set of mid-term elections for the Republicans across the Atlantic.
The Democrats claimed victory in several traditionally Republican states like Kansas, South Carolina and Texas to take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Trump administration’s ongoing war in Iran and the impact it is having on prices at home were seen as the key issues for voters going to the polls in the US.
Responding to the mid-term results, characterised by US-based commentators as a political earthquake, Burnham said the world has an “opportunity now to unite” around ending the war in the Middle East and tackling cost-of-living pressures.
“That has been the issue that I have put front and centre in my first three months in Downing Street, and we’ve made moves, but I can’t get people’s cost-of-living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved, the conflict in Ukraine started by Russia…
“These are things we have to focus on now,” the PM said.
He continued: “I think people want to see the world coming together, and focusing on the things that matter to people. And that’s what the voters, in my view, are saying in the United States. Let’s get focused in a laser-like way on those cost of living issues.”
Responding to last week’s Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said that the US-Iran war was driving cost-of-living pressures in the UK, resulting in higher energy prices, interest rates and inflation.
In response to US and Israeli attacks, Iran has made it more difficult for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital global shipping lane relied on by countries including the UK for gas and oil.