Simon Hoare
Main Page: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)Department Debates - View all Simon Hoare's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
Commons ChamberI thank my hon. and gallant Friend for his question and for his contribution to the debates last week. He knows how important it is to de-escalate, because it is our armed services personnel who would be at the frontline of any escalation of the crisis. De-escalation is also in the interests of all our constituents, whether because of heating oil, the price paid at petrol pumps or mortgage rates. That is why this Government are putting all our diplomatic efforts into de-escalating this crisis and reopening the strait of Hormuz.
As heating oil and petrol prices go up in rural North Dorset, my constituents are hearing the Chancellor echo one of her predecessors in effectively saying, “Crisis? What crisis?” She needs to actively get a grip on this issue. Motorists in rural areas use their cars because they have to. The vast majority of my constituents are off grid and have no alternative to keep warm other than using heating oil. This is a crisis in costs taking place today that meetings with and letters to the CMA will not help or address. She has mentioned that this meeting has been organised on Wednesday and that invitations have gone out for it. [Interruption.] We do not need the hon. Member for Swansea West (Torsten Bell) gesticulating like some—