UNIONS urged the government to “do everything it can” to de-escalate the US-Iran war and set up an emergency taskforce to deal with the emerging economic shock and energy crisis already threatening thousands of jobs in Britain.

The TUC called on the government to bring employers and unions together to help protect Britain from the economic fallout from the war after a serious escalation led to the targeting of gas fields.

The price of gas in Europe is now more than double the level before the illegal US-Israeli war with Iran began, with oil trading significantly higher by the barrel too.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The longer this war goes on, the greater the threat to households and firms.

“British workers shouldn’t pay for Trump’s war with their jobs.

“It’s vital that our government does everything it can to de-escalate and encourage an end to the war for working people at home and abroad.

“The lessons from the pandemic are clear. When unions, employers and government came together we were able to move at speed to protect jobs, keep businesses afloat and give families security through an incredibly uncertain time.”

Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, which owns British Gas, said that price rises may be “inescapable” if the war in the Middle East drags on, as the government insisted there is no need to ration fuel.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said there is a contingency plan ready, but urged people to “buy their fuel just like they always would.”

There are increasing concerns about how the Iran conflict could affect the cost of living, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer due to hold a Cobra meeting next week to discuss plans to help households.

The TUC warned that soaring costs are already threatening thousands of jobs in energy-intensive industries.

Crucial sectors of the economy like steel and chemicals are facing “immediate impacts, with industrial clusters in Teesside, Merseyside and North Lincolnshire especially exposed,” the union federation said.

Costs for homes and firms are also set to increase, with petrol prices and some mortgage rates rising, added the union federation, and insisted that “joint working to mitigate these impacts is essential.”

The TUC called for immediate targeted support for sectors and businesses most at risk. 

Mr Nowak said: “With the UK and global economy now facing huge shocks from the conflict in Iran we need that same approach again.

“We can’t afford to sit back and wait for the damage to be done. We need to get around the table and get ahead of this crisis.

“Unions stand ready to roll up our sleeves and act in the national interest.

“By working together we can protect workers, support firms and make sure households aren’t left to carry the cost of this conflict.”

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Alex Gordon said: “The coming energy price-hike is a cost-of-war crisis that threatens workers and their families with an era of economic stagflation.

“The TUC and its affiliated unions correctly condemned the current US-led war on Iran and Lebanon at an early stage. 

“But economic security requires the British government to embrace peace, instead of acting as an enabler for war hawks in Washington and Tel Aviv.”

Mr Gordon called on Sir Keir to “follow the lead of Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez by refusing permission for US forces to use British military bases. 

“Faced with the worst inflationary crisis for five years, the Communist Party calls for price controls on domestic and industrial energy, basic staple food stuffs and government economic intervention to ensure workers’ real earnings are maintained,” he added.

“The scale of the threatened inflationary surge requires emergency economic measures including price and rent controls, emergency support for families, along with the long-overdue nationalisation of energy companies. 

“A banking profits levy can be used to fund these emergency economic measures, as a long-overdue payback for the bailout of the banks that UK taxpayers paid for following the banking and financial crisis in 2010. 

“However, social partnership with Britain’s greedy bosses is no answer at all. Working people were made poorer during Covid and the cost-of-living crisis that followed. 

“What workers need from a Labour government are employment rights that give them a right to strike and take solidarity action, strong sectoral collective bargaining and state investment in green reindustrialisation including urgent strengthening of the renewable energy sector.”

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “If the government genuinely wants to protect the public from the new global energy crisis, we need to take energy into public ownership and price controls to prevent price gouging of consumers. 

“The government should also freeze rents like Spain announced this week, because every bit of help people can get is worth it.”