Time to focus on cost of living, says PM after US election results

Published4 November 2026, 14:30 GMT

Andy Burnham has said the results of the US midterm elections meant there was an "opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all, and that's the cost of living".

Speaking to broadcasters from the Commonwealth leaders summit, the prime minister promised to push for a resolution to the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in the wake of the US elections that saw Donald Trump's Republicans suffer heavy losses.

He said he couldn't ease cost of living pressures until the US's conflict in Iran had been resolved.

Responding to the midterm results, the US president acknowledged that rising fuel prices - caused by the Iran war - had played a part in his party's defeats.

Speaking to Fox News, President Trump said: "People agree with what I'm doing on Iran but they really probably weren't willing to do the short term consequences of paying more for gasoline - I understand that."

Giving his reaction to the results, Burnham said the voters in the US have said they want to "see the world coming together and focusing on the things that matter to people".

Asked whether he thought the results might make the US president more unpredictable, Burnham said: "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.

"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.

"These are the things we have to focus on now, and I hope the world has a moment to do that.

"And certainly, in my calls with leaders, that is what I will be asking everybody to do."

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The subject of the US midterm elections was raised at Prime Minister's Questions, which, in Burnham's absence, was taken by Cabinet Office Minister Louise Haigh.

The Liberal Democrat's deputy leader Daisy Cooper said American voters had rejected Trump's "warmongering and the economic chaos that it has caused".

She expressed concern that the US president was planning further strikes on Iran and urged the government to "stand together with our reliable allies and send a clear message to Trump and Netanyahu: there must be no more strikes."

Haigh replied: "The US are one of our most important allies and our priority absolutely is de-escalation."

She said the Iran war had been "catastrophic for the cost of living crisis" and said the Conservatives and Reform should "consider very carefully their judgment in calling for us to jump so readily into it".

Asked about suggestions there could be an attack on Iran in the coming week, Trump told the Financial Times, external on Tuesday: "The US was "locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no need for it".

Indirect talks between the two sides have been stalled for months and some analysts close to the Iran regime have suggested prolonging the negotiations, in the hope that the rising cost of fuel would damage Trump electorally.

Although the US Congress, now controlled by the Democrats, can restrict funding, Trump will still have significant authority over foreign policy.

Burnham is preparing a 10-year plan for government, and will be hoping that his strategy isn't blown off course by the actions of an unpredictable US president in his last two years in the White House.

Related topics

Andy Burnham

Donald Trump

UK-US relations