Sir Keir Starmer is reported to have been forced to put household energy support on the table as the Iran conflict drives oil prices toward $109 a barrel and shows no sign of ending, warning that the cost of living pressures bearing down on British families are “always top of my mind.”

“No matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind,” he told reporters ahead of a Monday visit to a community centre in London.

The pressure on Starmer to act is intensifying. The Express understands trade unions and a growing number of Labour MPs are pushing for a formal support package to be readied before the conflict takes a deeper economic toll. Brent crude has rocketed by as much as 10% in a matter of days, with weekend production cuts by the UAE and Kuwait threatening to extend the market turmoil into a second week. Before the first bomb fell on February 28, oil was changing hands at $72 a barrel.

The Resolution Foundation has put a number on what the energy shock means for ordinary households — a £500 hit for a typical family, dwarfing the £150 saving Reeves announced in November’s budget. Economists have been blunt that a blanket household bail-out is beyond the country’s means.

Bloomberg reported Starmer as saying, the public was “rightly worrying what this means for life at home – their bills, their jobs, their communities. I want to address those concerns head on. I will always be guided by what is best for the British public.”

Trump tensions

The Express reported how Sunday brought the first direct conversation between Starmer and Trump since the US president’s public attacks on the Prime Minister for dragging his feet over RAF base access.

The call covered military cooperation and Starmer conveyed his condolences over the six American service members killed in the conflict.

It did little to fully defrost relations. Trump had said on Saturday that Britain’s offer of an aircraft carrier was surplus to requirements:

“We will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!” he said, having earlier dismissed Starmer as “not Winston Churchill” over his initial reluctance to open British bases to US strikes.

Cooper went on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg to defend her boss. Starmer was “right to stand up for Britain and Britain’s interests,” she said. “That doesn’t mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries.”

Military build-up

Britain’s military footprint in the region expanded over the weekend. Qatar received four more Typhoon jets while a Merlin helicopter — prized for its advanced aerial threat detection capability — was heading for Cyprus, which has already absorbed an Iranian drone strike.

HMS Prince of Wales has had its deployment readiness window slashed from 14 days to five, though the order to sail has yet to be given. On Sunday, British forces shot down an Iranian drone aimed at Iraq. Counter-drone specialists are embedded alongside UAE military teams as part of the ongoing defensive effort.

Alongside Trump, Starmer held a call on Sunday with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, condemning Tehran’s strikes across the region and thanking the Emirates for its protection of British nationals — with thousands still caught in Dubai and Abu Dhabi awaiting a way home.

A government-chartered commercial flight out of the UAE is being arranged for early next week. British nationals and dependants with a valid six-month visa can apply, with the most vulnerable given first access. The flight will not be free. Meanwhile, regular commercial routes are gradually beginning to reopen.