Sean Morgan said the UK Government should prepare to allocate scarce resources fairly
Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter
11:03, 09 Apr 2026
Former leader of Caerphilly council Sean Morgan(Image: Caerphilly County Borough Council)
A councillor in Wales has called on the UK to consider drawing up plans for World War II-style rationing of resources should hostilities in the Middle East become “protracted”.
Cllr Sean Morgan, Caerphilly council’s sole Green Party representative, said the UK Government should prepare “a fair way to allocate scarce resources” if the conflict continues “into many months”.
Speaking at a council meeting on Tuesday – hours before the USA and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire – Cllr Morgan cautioned that such resources were already “becoming more scarce”. Stay in the know by making sure you’re receiving our daily newsletter
He told fellow councillors that “market forces alone cannot be allowed to be the mechanism by which essential resources are allocated within the country”.
“Market forces are wholly incapable of allocating fairly – the rich will flourish and poor people will go hungry,” said Cllr Morgan.
“So will the leader of council please urge the government to create and communicate to the public a fair allocation policy, such as rationing – as was undertaken in World War II – to alleviate the concerns of the impacts of the war, should it become more protracted and more impactful on our struggling communities?”
Cllr Jamie Pritchard, who assumed the role of council leader last autumn following Cllr Morgan’s departure from the position, acknowledged that times were “very challenging”.
However, he noted that the council had entered a pre-election period ahead of Senedd polling day on May 7, which would limit his capacity to respond in full.
“We are in the middle of a pre-election period and this does place significant restrictions on my ability to respond to you fully, as it would be impossible for me not to stray into political waters,” he said.
Cllr Pritchard instead proposed that the issue ought to be brought forward as a notice of motion when the council reconvenes following the Senedd election.
Cllr Morgan joined the Greens just weeks after resigning as council leader and departing from Labour – a move he stated at the time was partly driven by his former party’s position on the conflict in Gaza.