More than 1 million more people will be forced into poverty this winter, pushing UK deprivation levels to their highest for two decades – even if the government freezes energy prices at current levels, according to a conservative thinktank.
The Legatum Institute, led by the Conservative peer and former government adviser Philippa Stroud, estimated that even if the energy price cap was held at its summer rate of £1,971, another 1.3 million people would slide below the relative poverty line compared with pre-pandemic rates.
