Bank of England

Keir Starmer's pledge to boost living standards just collided with Middle Eastern reality. The Iran conflict will leave typical UK households £500 worse off this year as food inflation rockets to 9-10% by year-end — triple the pre-war forecast of 3%. The OECD slashed UK growth to 0.7% and warned inflation will hit 4% in 2026, undermining expectations of Bank of England rate cuts. The Strait of Hormuz disruption affects 25% of global oil and 20% of LNG shipments, but Britain's vulnerability stems from what the OECD calls "years of failure" in energy resilience that left the country dangerously exposed.