Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the world has an “opportunity” to focus on ending the Iran war and easing the cost of living following the US midterm elections in which Donald Trump’s Republican Party suffered a series of crushing defeats.
The Democrats took control of the Senate and House of Representatives, winning Senate seats in the former Republican strongholds of Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Maine and Iowa. The midterm elections to Congress were seen as a referendum on Mr Trump, who has been branded a “failed lame duck president”. The Democratic victories represent a major blow to Mr Trump, who had previously urged people to pretend he was on the voting slip.
Prime Minister’s Reaction
Mr Burnham was asked for his reaction as he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua. On whether the blow to Mr Trump could make the president more unpredictable, Mr Burnham told reporters: “President Trump has accepted the results, and I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all, and that’s the cost of living.”
He added: “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.”
Global Focus on Cost of Living
Pressed on whether he believed it was part of a global pattern of the decline of the popular right, the Prime Minister 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.”
He said: “Let’s get focused in a laser-like way on those cost of living issues. And I think around the world there’s a recognition that countries can’t do that on their own, and can’t do that when we have division between nations.”
Mr Burnham said he had been “working hard as Prime Minister to bring a new approach, a new approach in the Middle East, and the Foreign Secretary set that out. A new approach to Europe, and we believe that will help us get growth back up and reduce those cost of living pressures. But a new approach with the Commonwealth too.”
De-escalation Push
The Prime Minister also said the UK Government would be pushing for de-escalation when asked whether he feared an escalation there in the Iran conflict. “I’ll be working for de-escalation to make it very clear. You know, we want to see a resolution, the Strait of Hormuz fully opened again. That’s what we will be working towards.”
