Up and down the country, families are struggling to make ends meet.
Dealing with the triple whammy of eye-watering household bills, cuts to Universal Credit and the prospect of the biggest tax burden for 70 years has left many facing difficult choices.
This is the reality of Boris Johnson’s hollow promises to ‘build back better’, to ‘level up this country’.
There can be no doubt that MPs of all stripes are well aware of the realities of the cost of living crisis we face.
That’s why the Labour Party tabled a motion in the Commons, putting forward suggestions on how to tackle an inflation crisis of the Conservatives’ own making.
We urged the government to set out a national strategy for food, including how it intends to ensure access to high quality, sustainable, affordable food for all and meet the United Nations goal to end hunger by 2030.
Yet not a single Cabinet minister bothered to turn up until the 11th hour – too busy shuffling the deckchairs on the prime minister’s doomed vessel, as he scrabbles to save his job.
Those who are responsible are failing to do anything about the spiralling cost of your weekly shop, brought about in no small part by their failure to make Brexit work and properly support British suppliers and producers.
It’s becoming something of a pattern for this government. No accountability and no grip on reality.
Far too many of us know all too well the consequences of not being able to afford to live. As I told the House, the darkness of poverty isn’t just not being able to turn the lights on.
It’s being driven into debt and despair, keeping your curtains are closed even in the day-time - because you’re fearful of the debt collector knocking on the door.
Labour has set out a plan to cut the cost of energy bills, saving the poorest households about £600. The time for this government to refocus its efforts is long overdue.
Labour’s contract of security, prosperity and respect with the British people will end the cycle of high tax and low growth that has mired working families in perpetual instability for the last decade.
We have set out a fully costed plan to keep bills low and support British business to bolster sustainability and affordability of good quality food.
The Tories now stand on their record. They’re all out of ideas, their leader has run out of road and the British people have run out of patience.
