UNIONS have urged Andy Burnham to tackle the cost-of-living crisis by putting pressure on US president Donald Trump to end the US and Israel’s “devastating, illegal war on Iran.”

In an open letter, 10 general secretaries called on the PM to revoke permission for the US to use RAF bases to launch air strikes on Iraq as the conflict is “deepening the cost-of-living crisis faced by our members and the British public.”

“Since the war started, the average British household has seen its annual energy bill rise by £221, while monthly food bills are forecast to rise by £32.80. Without an end to the war, there will be no end to this cost-of-living crisis,” they wrote.

They added that they were “deeply concerned” that the government had “authorised US air strikes to be conducted from bases on British territories as part of the escalating war against Iran.”

Signatories included Unison’s Andrea Egan, the National Education Union’s Daniel Kebede and the University and College Union’s Jo Grady as well as the Fire Brigades Union, the actors’ union Equity and the Communications Workers Union.

Their letter, published in the Guardian, came after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband arrived in Washington this week for his first meetings with Trump administration officials since taking up the role last month.

Communist Party general secretary Alex Gordon said that an open letter is the “most polite way to tell this government … that the Emperor has no clothes on.”

He added even “the dogs in the street must know, that without an end to Britain’s addiction to forever wars, there can be no end to the cost-of-living crisis afflicting working-class families.

“Britain needs an independent foreign policy based on promotion of peace and diplomacy and an industrial policy that creates good union jobs providing the goods and services our country needs, rather than guaranteeing the super-profits of US arms firms.”

A Momentum spokesman said: “Amid the war on Iran, the cost-of-living crisis is set to worsen. 

“This will impact households already struggling to make ends meet.

“The government must take action by nationalising energy, introducing price controls and genuinely opposing Trump’s reckless and dangerous war.”