Andy Burnham commits an RAF Voyager to refuelling Saudi jets under Houthi attack

The PM ties the decision to the cost of living

The prime minister said the decision follows a Saudi request for "military support" which was agreed on the advice of Defence Secretary Wes Streeting and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.

According to BBC News, the support involves a single Voyager aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and is likely to begin within days.

Government officials said the offer is likely to last "for weeks" but still remains "time limited".

The military support comes as helping Saudi jets shoot down incoming Houthi missiles and drones, UK officials describe.

Speaking to reporters travelling with him to the UN General Assembly in New York, the prime minister linked the agreement to household budgets at home.

"I go back to the point I made about cost-of-living pressures and acting to secure the interests of Britain and the wider region," he said.

"Because of course Saudi Arabia has been experiencing attacks, is looking at potential further disruption, and we need to keep those pathways open, and hence our agreement to the request."

Saudi Arabia backs the sovereignty of the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is locked in a civil war with the Iran-backed Houthis.

In recent days, Houthi officials claim to have carried out drone and ballistic missile attacks on Riyadh and on Saudi energy sites on the Red Sea coast, a shipping route that is a vital artery of the world economy.

Burnham arrives in New York for his first meeting with Donald Trump, which the Guardian says he will use to urge the president to end the conflict in Iran, the same conflict over which Trump suggested the US would not back Britain over the Falklands.

The Prime Minister will also look to solicit Zelenskyy's war efforts with US backed missiles in a face-to-face with the commander in Chief.

The Times, leading on the Saudi decision alongside several of Tuesday's front pages, calls it his first big foreign policy intervention.