Also this morning, the Conservative party has continued to accuse the government of a “cover-up” over the release of files relating to Peter Mandelson becoming US ambassador.

In a letter to the standards watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus, shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart suggested there was “missing” correspondence in the published material.

Details of Mandelson’s appointment and subsequent sacking from the Washington role were disclosed in documents published on Wednesday in response to a “humble address” motion – a parliamentary manoeuvre that can be used as a way of extracting something from the government. Officially a petition to the monarch, it is used for reasons including calling for papers from departments headed by a secretary of state.

Burghart said that complying only partially with the humble address may be a contempt of parliament, as he called on Magnus to investigate a “potential cover-up”.

Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said the government had published the “wrong versions of the documents”.

He told Times Radio: “There are documents that are clearly withheld … we don’t know what the contents of those documents are.

“At some point in the future, they may well be released, but the documents that have been put in the public domain are the wrong versions of the documents.

“They are the documents that give advice from the officials, but not the decisions from ministers.”

Energy minister Michael Shanks rejected the accusations, saying the government has complied fully with the demand of MPs and would be publishing further documents in due course.

“There’s been no cover-up at all, Downing Street is releasing the documents,” he told Sky News.

“Unfortunately, there are elements of those documents that currently, because of the Metropolitan police investigation, not everything has been published, but it will be.”

Energy minister Michael Shanks said concerns over the rising cost of heating oil are “clearly a huge worry”, as prices almost trebled since the start of the Iran war.

When asked about the impact of soaring oil prices on households, he told Sky News: “We’ve been really clear with the Competition and Markets Authority that we wouldn’t stand for any profiteering or price gouging.

“We’re really clear that the cost of living is the government’s number one priority. So we will do whatever we can to make sure prices are fair, that consumer protections are in place, and that we’re doing whatever we can to bring down the cost of living.”

He said the energy price cap will be in place until the end of June, but when asked about households that rely on heating oil – which is not covered by the cap – he responded: “It’s clearly a huge worry.

“Because it’s a just in time market, the prices are fed through really quickly into the cost of heating oil. I’ve met various industry players a number of times. I’ve spoken to the CMA about making sure we’re tracking the price.”

An estimated 1.7m households rely on heating oil across the UK, and in Northern Ireland it is the primary heating source for two-thirds of households. It is typically a form of kerosene so prices are linked to the cost of jet fuel.

The UK economy entered the Middle East crisis after a weak start to the year, according to official figures showing flatlining January output before the US-Israel war on Iran hit global energy prices.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 0% growth in gross domestic product (GDP), down from an increase of 0.1% in December, as the economy failed to recover from uncertainty surrounding the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.

Falling significantly short of City predictions for growth of 0.2%, the figures came as the UK and other countries faced a potentially severe economic hit as the Middle East conflict drove up oil and gas prices, hitting consumers with higher living costs.

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