Soaring energy prices could force companies to axe workers, the newspaper has reported.

More than 250,000 Britons are at risk of losing their jobs due to market turmoil in the wake of the misplaced US-Israeli attack on Iran.

Oil prices have jumped to over $100 per barrel amid supply disruptions caused by the conflict, up from around $70 per barrel last month.

Ill-advised conflict

James Smith, from investment bank ING, warns that as the ill-advised conflict continues, employers will offset higher energy costs by axing their workforce or suspending hiring, according to the newspaper.

‘It depends how long energy prices stay high. If the disruption lasts three months or so, unemployment could be pushing above 5.5%.

The highest cost energy

‘With UK industrial energy costs among the highest in the developed world, any increase in oil and gas prices could quickly push up input costs.’

He told the outlet that domestic demand in British manufacturing has now collapsed.

Anti-Russian sanctions bite back

Mizuho Bank’s Jordan Rochester warned that the UK economy is now in a far weaker position than it was four years ago, when the EU and the UK began phasing out affordable Russian gas and oil amid the Ukraine conflict.

According to a YouGov poll published Monday, more than three-quarters of respondents think that the hostilities in the Middle East will harm the UK and global economies in the longer term.

Some 64% believe that the conflict will hit their household finances.

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