Good Morning Britain ground to a halt minutes into the ITV show as they announced a major breaking news update coming from the Middle East. On Monday morning (March 2), Ed Balls and Susanna Reid returned to the helm to discuss the biggest news stories hitting the headlines. But just 10 minutes into the show, news correspondent Jonathan Swain took over the programme as he issued a breaking news announcement from the Foreign Office.

He revealed that the government are drawing up plans for what would be one of the biggest evacuations in Britain's history, should airspace in the Gulf remain closed. At the time of writing this article, an estimated 2000,000 British people are currently in the region.

He began: "Bombs and missiles are still being fired, and a suspected drone strike has hit an RAF base in Cyprus. That is a crucial launch pad for any potential evacuation; it's worth keeping an eye on that over the next few hours and the next few days.

"Airspace across the region is closed, we have flights that are grounded, and now we have seen that the oil price is beginning to rise. Plans are now being drawn up to evacuate thousands of British nationals because up to 200,000 Brits are in the Gulf. They're either tourists, residents or those in transit."

Swain continued: "At the moment, there is little chance of them getting out because airports such as Dubai and Doha were under direct strike from missiles over the weekend. Thousands of flights and holidays have been cancelled."

The TV presenter went on to share an interview with a former ITV reporter who is currently on holiday in Dubai when the missile hit. She's trying desperately to register with the authorities to get her and her family out of the danger zone.

Ciara Durkan revealed: "It's been quite a worrying and unsettling few days. We don't know what is in the coming days or how or when we're going to get home, and we've not had any information really from the British Embassy despite our efforts in trying to contact them."

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Jonathan added that this crisis is sending shockwaves through global markets, noting that the Strait of Hormuz, located in the Persian Gulf, accounts for roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas. Oil prices are now beginning to rise this morning; they went up by 10 per cent but have slightly come down to four per cent because some oil tankers in that region have been hit.

If this continues, analysts are warning that higher fuel prices could hit British fourcourts within days. On Sunday (March 1), Keir Starmer urged Britons in areas targeted by Iranian strikes to register with the Foreign Office to receive advice, and about 94,000 have done so so far.

More than 50,000 of those are believed to be in the United Arab Emirates, and most are holidaymakers or other travellers rather than residents, with Dubai a major tourist and business destination. Its airspace is currently closed, leaving tourists without a way home.

After the breaking news hit the airwaves, viewers flocked to social media to share their concerns online. One user penned: "Right, let's hope they've got their act together this time - 200,000 people is a lot to wrangle. Fingers crossed for a plan."

Another agreed: "Sad and scary times" before a third fumed: "Trump doing his best to f up the world's economy, the oil prices won't hit his country."