RISHI SUNAK was urged today to come up with long-term plan to ease the cost-of-living crisis, including a home-insulation scheme, as energy bills “aren’t going down anytime soon.”
The Chancellor has refused to rule out a further emergency package next year, but his most recent announcement of a £21 billion giveaway to households, partly paid for by a £5bn evadable levy on the profits of oil and gas companies, has been criticised as not enough to soften the impact of soaring inflation.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that the impact of a one-off series of measures will be limited, so Mr Sunak will come under pressure to repeat it in future years.
One disabled woman, Julie Inglis from northern Scotland, said: “We’ve been struggling for so long that a few hundred here or there is quickly swallowed up and just reduces the debt a little.
“I won’t feel a difference in my purse.”
The 53-year-old, who was forced to retire from her job, said she was sitting wrapped in blankets every day because of the cold, “dreading to think what winter is going to be like.”
“I have nothing left of any value that I can sell,” she said. “I’ve budgeted every single thing possible. I don’t drink or smoke … I’m out of ideas.”
Ms Inglis called on Mr Sunak, who has a net worth of £730 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, to “spend decent time with someone who is trying to survive on benefits.
“Although he says all the right things, we know he can never know what desperation feels like … his reality is so far removed from ours,” she added.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 26 per cent of adults in Britain are considering changes to their home’s energy efficiency, up from the 19 per cent last autumn.
Of the 74 per cent of those surveyed by the ONS who said they are not planning on improving energy efficiency, 36 per cent said it was because it would cost too much.
Nearly 30 per cent said that they cannot make changes because they do not own their homes and 26 per cent felt that their homes are efficient enough already.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Improving energy efficiency of homes is the best way to end fuel poverty for good, but people need help to improve their homes.
“The government must launch a great homes upgrade to provide financial support to get improvements underway.
“And we also need to see more incentives to encourage landlords to improve rented accommodation.”
Mr Francis said that the government has “had years to do this, but let’s hope the current crisis forces them to act.”
Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly said: “Making sure that we have warm, energy-efficient homes is a basic need for everyone and something that all levels of government should be helping to provide.
“We can invest to ensure that everyone can afford to bring their homes up to a good energy standard.
“It would help reduce bills, tackle fuel poverty, create jobs and help cut our harmful carbon emissions.”
Zoe Nicholson, Green Party spokesperson for a green new deal, said : “The energy crisis has shown us just how this broken system has a devastating impact on peoples’ lives.
“While the government continues to give billions in subsidies to oil and gas companies, it has cut support for people looking to insulate their homes as they have to choose between paying their bills or feeding their children.”
Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the government has “finally come to their senses” over the windfall tax, but she added that ministers need to think now about measures to ensure that they are not in the same position next year.
“All economists are saying that the energy prices aren’t going down any time soon,” she told BBC Breakfast.
“The government could be starting a big programme of home insulation right now to take money off people’s bills — not just for one year, but for years to come.”
