UK Chancellor Zahawi Visits US to Seek Joint Solution to Cost-of-Living Crisis

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi (C) visits Broughton Airbus plant in Chester, England, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Oli Scarff—WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi is visiting the United States this week to seek joint solutions to the cost-of-living crisis with U.S. government officials and financial executives.

During his trip to New York and Washington, Zahawi will push for cooperation on energy security, financial services, and tackling spiralling prices and slower growth, the Treasury said.

The visit comes in what could be his final days at the helm of the department, as whoever emerges as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s successor on Sept. 5 is likely to install a new chancellor.

Johnson has refused to offer immediate extra help to households struggling amid soaring energy prices, as major financial decisions have been postponed until either Foreign Secretary Liz Truss or former chancellor Rishi Sunak is in Downing Street after the Conservative Party leadership contest.

The main opposition Labour Party has slammed the “do-nothing” government and condemned Zahawi’s taxpayer-funded trip.

James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “Families across the country are desperately worried about the massive rise in energy bills that is on the way but we’re stuck with this do-nothing Tory government. Now we discover the chancellor is jetting off to an international chinwag.”

‘Working Flat Out’

But the chancellor has defended the government’s record, pointing to the “unprecedented £37 billion ($43 billion) support package” to British families.

He has also insisted that he has been “working flat out to develop further options for a new prime minister” to offer new support to the population.

He added that the “global pressures must be overcome through global efforts,” and that he will work closely with allies on the common challenges to “create a fairer and more resilient economy at home and abroad.”

After arriving in New York on Monday, Zahawi will meet banking chiefs at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss setting the highest possible standard for U.S.-UK financial services cooperation, according to the Treasury.

He will then head to Washington to discuss support for Ukraine, the global economic outlook, and energy security with senior stakeholders at the U.S. central bank, the U.S. Treasury, and international financial institutions.

He is “expected to indicate a desire for increased civil nuclear cooperation and closer working between the UK and U.S. nuclear industries on developing technologies, such as small and advanced modular reactors,” the Treasury said.

Possible further sanctions against Russia are also on the agenda.

PA Media contributed to this report.