Aysu Bicer
20 May 2026•Update: 20 May 2026
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced criticism from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday after his government eased some sanctions on Russian oil products while extending a freeze on fuel duty rises.
During Prime Minister's Questions Time in Parliament, the Conservative leader accused the prime minister of hypocrisy over his energy policy, telling MPs the government was effectively allowing Russian-linked fuel into Britain while constraining domestic North Sea production.
Badenoch said the UK was “losing a thousand jobs a month in oil and gas” before turning to the government’s decision to ease restrictions on Russian oil refined into diesel and jet fuel in third countries.
She asked Starmer to explain why “oil from Russia is acceptable, but oil from Aberdeen is not.”
The government announced on Wednesday that it would temporarily loosen strict sanctions on Russian oil products refined abroad, citing growing supply concerns after disruption around the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israel war with Iran.
The waiver begins immediately and is intended to ease pressure on fuel markets.
Starmer defends decision
Starmer rejected Badenoch’s criticism, insisting the measures did not amount to a rollback of sanctions policy. “The sanctions announced yesterday were a new package,” he told the Commons, adding they went “well beyond existing sanctions.”
He said two “short-term licenses” had been issued to phase the new sanctions in, describing the move as consistent with previous Conservative administrations.
“It’s not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever,” the prime minister said. Badenoch escalated her attack, accusing Starmer of ideological inconsistency and weakness over Ukraine.
“He’s nationalizing steel, he’s imposing price controls in the supermarket ... it’s like the Soviets won,” she said.“This country needs a government that has got its act together, instead, what we have is a prime minister hanging by a thread, fake support from his backbenchers, too scared to take difficult decisions, losing his moral compass by backsliding on Ukraine.”
She added that Labour MPs “aren’t getting rid of him over his terrible agenda, they want a better salesman.”
Starmer responded by pointing to economic indicators released earlier in the day.
“We’ve got the fastest growing economy in the G7, last week, we had the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years,” he said.
“Today, inflation has come down more than expected, if you’d offered me that and Arsenal becoming Premier League champions, I’d take it every day of the week.”
Badenoch dismissed Starmer’s defense, telling MPs the prime minister “should be ashamed.”
“He doesn’t know what he is talking about. This level of processology is not going to get him out of these difficult answers,” she said.
“Let me tell him what is going on. Labour are giving money to Russia. Reform are taking money from Russia. There’s only one party that is standing up to Russia and that is the Conservative Party. I cannot believe, I cannot believe that he’s actually saying that he’s doing something good on the war in Ukraine. What is he talking about?” she said.
