00:00Meantime, let's talk to Murray Leith, Professor of Politics at the University of the West of Scotland.
00:06Murray, welcome, good to see you.
00:08Well, your response, first of all, on President Trump's posting in the last few minutes
00:13that Europe will release some of its supplies to try and fix this crisis.
00:21Well, if it's accurate, and you have to say that about President Trump's postings on Truth Social,
00:27they are not always very accurate.
00:30If it is accurate, then at least we've got agreement across the Atlantic
00:33which will reduce some of the political pressures between the United States and Europe.
00:39I mean, this presumably might fix things, might fix supply in the short term.
00:45What doesn't seem to be fixed in the short term is the possibility of ending the war in either Russia
00:50or the Middle East.
00:51And both of those theatres of war are critical to this fuel supply story, aren't they?
00:59They are indeed.
01:00I mean, obviously, Trump's actions on Iran closed in the Strait of Hormuz,
01:04and then Russia's invasion of Ukraine adds to the problem.
01:08Of course, many countries aren't taking imports from Russia,
01:11and Russia itself has put a ban on the export of diesel recently.
01:14So this is what's driving the price up.
01:16And as we heard in your earlier reports, you're talking about 60%, 70%, sometimes 80% in countries.
01:23And that's unsustainable in the wrong one.
01:25It's unsustainable politically, not so much an issue of supply and demand.
01:31People are not going to accept paying prices that we've heard in the last few days.
01:35I mean, Germany, on that point, Germany has just reduced fuel tax.
01:40Do other countries in Europe need to follow suit, perhaps?
01:43I think in the UK, the total fuel tax burden that the pump is now, if you include VAT as
01:49well, something like 65%.
01:52Lots of people will say government needs to step in here and stop taking so much tax.
01:57Well, absolutely.
01:58And we've seen those discussions taking place here in the UK.
02:01The government has recently cut the tax, the very small amount of tax, on heating your home and the use
02:09of electricity.
02:10But they're going to have to look wider because diesel, as you've been discussing today, underpins huge segments of a
02:16society and impacts prices across the board.
02:20So you're definitely going to see moves because, of course, the UK chancellor is looking at his budget in a
02:26few weeks,
02:26and he's going to want to take action to reduce the cost on everyday British people.
02:31On this particular point of President Trump's threat to ban U.S. diesel export,
02:37should we see that simply through the prism of the forthcoming midterm U.S. elections?
02:44Is this simply about electioneering?
02:47Absolutely.
02:47One hundred percent.
02:49Everything Donald Trump is doing right now should either be focused on the elections or is focused on the elections.
02:55Recent polls coming out of the United States look dire for the Trump Republican Party.
03:00And they're having to do this tour in these red states, in these states that he shouldn't be having to
03:07go near,
03:07because people are really worried that some of his people, supporters of Trump, won't show up and his opponents will
03:14show up to vote out the Republican Party.
03:17Murray, good to talk to you.
03:18Thank you very much indeed for that.
03:19Murray Lee, Professor of Politics at the University of West of Scotland.
