Prime Minister-in-waiting Liz Truss has claimed £4,817 in taxpayer expenses on gas and electric in the last five years.
Yet she says she won’t “bung more money into the system” to help hard-up Brits facing fuel bills of £3,500 a year – and rising.
Ms Truss’s claim was for her second home in Thetford, Norfolk – where almost 30 per cent of children are living in poverty.
Furious locals accuse the Foreign Secretary of hypocrisy and greed.
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Mother-of-four Donna Wenham, 39, who faces monthly power bills of more than £200, said: “It’s ridiculous that she can claim so much. It’s greedy and I’m not impressed.
“It’s not fair on everyone else. We’re left to suffer while she lives the high life. I’m just trying to keep my head above water. As if single parents don’t struggle enough.
“My son has an iron deficiency and can’t hold his body temperature so I have to keep the heating on through winter 24/7.
“If bills go up how will we cope? If I run out of money and my son goes blue we’ll have to spend the night in the hospital, which puts more pressure on the NHS.
“That’ll happen again and again until I get more money to pay for the heating. It’s a vicious cycle.”
The typical household energy bill will hit £3,549 a year from October 1, regulator Ofgem has announced.
The £4,817 claimed by married Ms Truss is for a house in her South West Norfolk constituency, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
She is hot favourite to be elected new Tory leader – and PM – when Tories choose between her and rival Rishi Sunak next week. But Ms Truss has said she won’t offer “handouts” to help Brits who cannot afford to put the heating on.
She has said: “Of course I will look at what more can be done. But the way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
That angers many Thetford families.
Mum-of-one Lauren Swallow, 22, has to struggle by on £600- a-month in Universal Credit. She and her partner pay £300 for gas and electric every four weeks and owes £1,800 to a water company.
She said: “We have to prioritise food. I have no idea how we’ll cope from October. We don’t stand a chance. People are voting for Liz Truss but she’s not helping. She’s a hypocrite. I’m so annoyed. We had the government partying and now this, it’s horrible.”
Former carer Vivian Alexander, 71, who volunteers at a charity shop, pays £20 every two weeks for her electricity on a pre-payment meter.
She limits use of heating and lighting and said: “Liz Truss claiming for gas and electric while leaving us to suffer makes me so angry. It’s not fair. I’ll have to stay in bed in the winter.”
Factory worker Zoe Kidd, 43, said: “I have to choose between eating and heating. I need heating because I have hypermobility – my joints seize up. I will have to starve. It’s a horrible choice.”
MPs have claimed £420,000 to heat second homes since 2019.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of better democracy campaign group Best for Britain said: “Support for millions facing a financial abyss is not a ‘handout’, it is the Government doing its job, something they failed to do during this tortuous and self-indulgent leadership contest.”
The Sunday Mirror contacted Liz Truss for comment.
