The UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters and restore stability in the Middle East while driving down the cost of living at home, Andy Burnham has said, ahead of his first meeting with Donald Trump.
The prime minister said he had agreed to a request for air-to-air refuelling of Saudi jets to defend energy infrastructure against the Iran-backed rebels and help keep oil flowing from the Gulf to ease global economic turmoil.
Burnham also revealed he will use his first meeting with Trump on Tuesday to urge the US president to de-escalate the conflict in Iran, warning that “dark clouds of global instability” are directly affecting people’s lives all over the world.
The turmoil in the Middle East has pushed up global energy prices, putting the UK economy under intense inflationary pressure and increasing government borrowing costs to multi-year highs just weeks before a crucial first budget for the new government. You can read the full story here:
