Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

PM’s ‘cost of living champion’ calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran war

The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.

Richard Walker – a Labour peer, chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region.