The Government should urge people to work from home in order to address energy shortages in the aftermath of the conflict in Iran, a former Government adviser has said. Professor Nick Butler, previously vice-president for strategy and policy at oil giant BP, stated it would be “perfectly sensible” for ministers to instruct workers to remain at home, cautioning that the price of diesel could still climb a “good deal” north of £2 per litre.
US-Israeli military action in Iran since February has driven oil prices to record highs, with costs rising more than 60% so far this year as the blockade of the crucial shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, persists.
“Some countries, I think particularly in Asia, where the crisis has hit earliest, they’re taking an extra day a week at home,” he told Times Radio.
“People are being encouraged to work at home. And I think you have to test now whether there’s a willingness.
“And as I read the behavioural science, people do respond. They don’t all do it perfectly, but they respond if other people are responding.”
When asked whether the Government should issue recommendations to work from home, Prof Butler said: “Yes, I think that that would be a perfectly sensible measure.”
Prof Butler, who served as adviser to Gordon Brown during his tenure as prime minister, also warned that diesel prices could surge even further, cautioning that the worst is yet to come.
He said: “The real crisis for Britain and for Europe will come at the end of April and in early May, when the real shortage will translate into both a physical shortage and a sharp rise in prices.
“I don’t think we’ve yet seen the full impact on prices of this loss of supply.”
When asked whether diesel prices could climb beyond £2 per litre, he said: “It could go a good deal north of that.
“The jet fuel prices doubled, and I think that could go further north as well.
“I think there’s been a degree of complacency and a belief that Mr (Donald) Trump would always come back into line and there would be a deal, and then everything would be OK.”