Britain’s businesses have become used to operating in uncertainty.

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Over the last few years, we have navigated a pandemic, energy crises, soaring inflation, higher interest rates, and repeated shocks to global supply chains.

But at some point, uncertainty itself becomes an unacceptable cost of doing business, and we are rapidly reaching that point with the latest crisis: diesel.

Donald Trump is considering restricting US diesel exports as he attempts to bring down fuel prices for American consumers. His administration has also been pressuring European countries, particularly France and Germany, to release emergency diesel reserves to help ease global prices. There’s certainly some irony here given that the war with Iran is one of the key issues causing soaring prices, and there are the mid-term elections, which are no doubt on his mind.

For Britain, this matters enormously because the UK imports more than half of the diesel it uses, with the US accounting for around a third of those imports. Meanwhile, average UK diesel prices have already reached record levels of more than £2 a litre in some areas.

This........

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