British households will be nearly £500 poorer this year due to soaring energy prices triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to the Resolution Foundation (a UK economic policy thinktank). The group warns that the typical working-age household, previously on track for modest income growth of 0.9%, is now expected to see a 0.6% fall in living standards — a reversal largely driven by surging gas, electricity, and petrol costs, with Brent crude trading above $100 a barrel. Separately, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that Britain will not join the United States in enforcing Donald Trump's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which a significant share of the world's oil and gas passes — describing the reopening of the strait as "vital" to stabilising household energy bills.