Consumer champion Martin Lewis today warned the cost of living is a “national crisis” like Covid as he blasted Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss ’ plans that could “leave millions destitute and in danger this winter”.
The Money Saving Expert’s voice rose with emotion as he demanded the government act now over the "terrible cataclysmic risk millions of people in our nation face this winter”.
He said claims the government cannot act now are “complete bull”, telling ITV ’s Good Morning Britain: “What we’re facing here is a financial emergency that risks lives”.
The distraught-sounding expert told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is a national crisis on the scale that we saw in the pandemic.
“We are currently in that position where we are watching the beds in European hospitals and doing nothing about it and allowing people to go to sporting events.”
It comes as the energy bills price cap is forecast to hit top £4,200 in January - more than three times what bills were a year earlier.
And new research shows households are already lumbered with a record £1.3billion of energy debt, with six million owing £206 each.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will meet energy sector bosses for talks tomorrow.
The pair will ask gas and electricity company executives to submit a breakdown of expected profits and payouts as well as investment plans for the next three years.
A Treasury source said all options were being kept open, including expanding the 25% windfall tax on oil and gas producers announced earlier this year.
Officials are keen to work on options soon so the next Prime Minister can take decisions “swiftly”.
But Boris Johnson has refused to take any action until a new PM is in place on September 6.
Liz Truss, the frontrunner for PM, has dismissed “handouts” as “Gordon Brown economics” and said crisis talks now would be “bizarre”.
But today she seemed to be edging closer to a cost-of-living U-turn after a key ally, James Cleverly, said she will look at “targeted help” for Brits. Ms Truss also refused to refused to rule out cost of living payments at an emergency budget - seconds after branding them “Gordon Brown style economics I don’t support”.
At 3pm Ms Truss issued a further clarification, saying "our first port of call" should be tax cuts but not ruling out other action.
She said: "I understand how difficult the rising cost of living is making life for many, and if elected I will do all that I can to help struggling households.
“As it stands we are hurtling towards a recession. If we don’t get our economy growing we won’t be able to help anyone."
Her campaign angrily claimed “Rishi Sunak wouldn’t know how people benefit from a tax cut because he has never cut a tax in his life."
Mr Lewis said direct debits will start going up within weeks after the Ofgem announcement of the October 1 price cap, which takes place on August 26.
He explained that every £100 people pay now will be £215 by January, with the price cap potentially rising every three months.
Rishi Sunak has said he would give a “few hundred pounds” in extra payments, which may be targeted at pensioners and benefit claimants.
Liz Truss has not ruled out direct payments but says she wants to focus on cutting National Insurance and pausing green levies on bills.
Mr Lewis said Mr Sunak “will effectively need, if he wants to make this work, to double the numbers especially for the poorest from £1,200 to £2,400.
“Because the increase has doubled the gap over where it was previously”.
And he said Liz Truss' plan to drop the green levy was a "sticking plaster on a gaping wound”.
He added: “Tax cuts will not help the millions of the poorest in society who are making the choice between heating and eating.”
Mr Lewis went on: “This is not something that can wait. We need to get firm decisions coming from the key parties.
“Rishi Sunak needs to say more detail of what he will do and Liz Truss needs to say more of what she will do.
“And if it is just tax cuts and the green levy, we’re going to leave millions destitute and in danger this winter and that cannot happen in our country.”
Cornwall Insight said bills are set to soar to around £3,582 in October, from £1,971 now, before rising even further in the new year.
Education Secretary James Cleverly said the Chancellor and Business Secretary were "calling in" the leaders of the big energy companies to "knock some heads together".
He told Good Morning Britain (GMB): "The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nadhim Zahawi) and the Business Secretary (Kwasi Kwarteng) are actually calling in the leaders of those big energy companies to knock some heads together and basically hold them to account about what they're going to do with those profits.
"The increase in energy costs has been driven by the war in Ukraine and a global crunch, this is affecting everyone pretty much across the world, everyone in the developing world is seeing those energy bills go up. What we need to do is make sure that we have a short, medium and long term plan, so the Chancellor and the Business Secretary are getting those energy companies in as part of the short-term response."
Labour MP Bridget Phillipson said the Government has "not planned for the long term" in tackling the rising cost of energy.
"Over these last 12 years we've been uniquely exposed because we haven't taken those long-term decisions around our energy security and on insulating homes," she added.
