MARTIN Lewis last night sent a warning to Westminster if the Government fail to act upon the cost-of-living.
The money-saving expert warned that the public mood is “desperate” and “angry”.
Speaking on ITV’s Peston, Lewis said: “If we don’t sort this, when those bill rises come in the middle of October to £2600 in the middle of winter, I worry about civil unrest.
“The Government needs to get a handle on it, and they need to get a handle on it quickly, they need to listen, and they need to stop people making choices of whether they feed themselves or feed their children.
“And we are in that now.
“We used to have a relative poverty condition in this country, and we are moving to absolute poverty, and we cannot allow that to happen.”
Inflation rose to a 40-year high this week as the cost-of-living crisis continues. Households face increased financial pressure as energy bills, fuel and food continue to rise.
This week Archie Norman, chair of Marks and Spencer, told BBC Radio 4 on that food prices are likely to climb even higher later this year.
He said: “It wouldn’t be surprising to see food price inflation over the course of the year running towards eight per cent to 10%."
Meanwhile on Thursday Labour said the Government is not doing enough to intervene on rising food costs, and is instead spectating.
Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon told MPs: “[George Eustice] is speaking like a commentator, a spectator from the sidelines rather than the Sectary of State responsible around the Cabinet table for food security. He seems to be oblivious to the cost-of-living crisis that people are facing.
“He can reel off the stats all he wants, but working people know when they go to the supermarket the price of almost everything they are buying is going up and up and up, and all the Government will do is to spectate and commentate from the sides.”
The Environment Secretary had earlier said that food prices were returning to 16% of average household income, after experiencing a dip to approximately 14% for several years.
McMahon also said that in Environment Secretary’s own Camborne and Redruth constituency, one food bank alone was giving out 10,000 meals a month.
He asked: “Will he commit even at this late stage to call an urgent cross-government, industry and charity commission to get ahead of the food crisis? Because he knows if they don’t get a grip by Christmas this can be even worse.”
