Andy Burnham<\/a> the UK economy will barely grow next year if disruption to the Strait of Hormuz linked to the Iran war continues until the end of 2026.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_IRAN-US-ISRAEL-WAR.jpg\")
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(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
John Healey said: \u201cI know people are worried about the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on their cost of living, which has been too high for too long and it has added pressure on British businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an active, hands-on government, putting British interests first \u2013 giving breathing space to those feeling the strain, making our country more resilient and bringing hope back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the fastest growth in the G7 this year, but we now need to double down and drive growth in every postcode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: \u201cGrowth slowed in the second quarter of the year, following a strong start to 2026, but remained relatively robust.<\/p>\n
\u201cServices also drove growth in June, with some businesses reporting that good weather and sporting events may have had a positive impact that month.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conflict in the Middle East continues to impact the UK, with internal modelling from the Treasury suggesting UK GDP could see growth as low as 0.3% throughout 2027.<\/p>\n
Officials say they routinely plan for all possible scenarios, with this growth projection linked to a more extreme situation.<\/p>\n
The war has seen energy prices soar since February and and raised further fears about the cost of living.<\/p>\n
The modelling, seen by the PM and Chancellor, also shows the UK economy could grow by just 0.9% this year if there is no permanent peace deal between the US-Israeli forces and Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Office for National Statistics showed gross domestic product rose by 0.4% between April and June, down from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[46517,7648,34,6615,49,9044,81,68750],"class_list":["post-247292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-andy-burnham","tag-british-economy","tag-iran","tag-john-healey","tag-middle-east","tag-office-for-national-statistics","tag-politics","tag-the-treasury"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117087358732535962","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1_Prime-Minister-Andy-Burnham-visits-the-Hare-pub.jpg\")
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