Boris Johnson has been slammed after a crunch meeting with energy bosses ended with no new help for people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
The prime minister, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held talks with energy and gas executives this morning amid dire warnings that energy bills could reach an eye-watering £5,000 next April.
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But despite calls for government action, Johnson told the companies that any “significant fiscal decisions” would be for the next prime minister to take after they take office on September 6.
Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “Britain faces a national emergency with rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis. Families are worried about how they will pay their bills.
“But instead of showing leadership, the Conservatives are missing in action. The prime minister and chancellor have gone AWOL, whilst the candidates for the leadership have no substantive ideas about how to help working people meet the challenges they face.”
Following today’s meeting, the PM said: “We will keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost-of-living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security.”
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The Treasury said that Zahawi and the energy firms agreed to “work closely” over the coming weeks to ensure that the public, including vulnerable customers, are supported in the face of rising costs.
“In the spirit of national unity, they agreed to work with us to do more to help the people who most need it,” Zahawi added.
In response, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was “appalling that the Conservatives still haven’t announced any extra support for families and pensioners facing the hardest winter in decades”.
“The cruellest element of this chaos is that those who could actually help, Truss and Sunak, are more interested in speaking to their party than taking the action our country needs,” he added.
“Whether it’s Johnson or Zahawi, Truss or Sunak, not one of them has a big enough plan to help millions of families cope with soaring energy bills.
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“That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to cancel the energy price hike to avoid a country-wide catastrophe.”
The meeting comes as forecasts released today by energy consultancy Auxilione predicted that the energy price cap could increase to £5,038 per year for the average household in the three months beginning next April.
It is an even worse than a forecast provided by Cornwall Insight earlier this week which said energy bills could hit £4,200 per year in January.
Liz Truss has been accused of “a major U-turn” after pledging to “do all that I can to help struggling households” cope with the cost of living crisis.
The Tory leadership favourite has been under pressure since the weekend, when she told the Financial Times: “The way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
Both Truss and Sunak have also been urged to meet with Boris Johnson to agree an emergency cost of living support package – something which has been ruled out by the government.
In an apparent change of tack from her previous stance, Truss said today: “As a Conservative I am clear that our first port of call should always be to let people keep more of their own money.
“I understand how difficult the rising cost of living is making life for many, and if elected I will do all that I canto help struggling households.
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“As it stands we are hurtling towards a recession. If we don’t get our economy growing we won’t be able to help anyone.
“That’s why I have a bold plan to cut taxes, for individuals and businesses, to turbocharge our economy, grow the size of the pie and increase prosperity for everyone.”
A spokesperson for Sunak’s campaign said: “This is a major u-turn on the biggest issue currently facing the country.
“It’s all very well offering empty words about ‘doing all you can’. But there aren’t lots of different ways to act on this. Taking action means providing direct support, which Truss had previously dismissed as ‘handouts’.
“Twice now, Truss has made a serious moral and political misjudgement on a policy affecting millions of people, after last week reversing plans to cut the pay of teachers and the armed forces outside London. Mistakes like this in Government would cost the Conservative Party the next General Election.”
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A spokesperson for Truss said: “Rishi Sunak wouldn’t know how people benefit from a tax cut because he has never cut a tax in his life. People didn’t vote for the Conservative Party to be subjected to old fashioned Gordon Brown style politics of envy.
“You cannot tax your way to growth and Liz’s agenda is to build a high wage, high growth, low tax economy that supports people.
“Liz believes in people keeping more of their own money, not Rishi’s socialist tax and spend which will lead us to recession.”
Boris Johnson will not intervene in the cost of living crisis this summer, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said it was up to his successor to make policy and he would not make any “new fiscal interventions”.
It means another four weeks of paralysis until the next prime minister is announced on September 5.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown claimed there is a “vacuum” at the centre of government which has stopped it tackling the cost of living crisis.
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He has called on the UK government’s emergency response committee, Cobra, to come together to tackle the looming crisis.
Brown warned that the country was facing a “poverty time bomb” and added: “Even if Boris Johnson has gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently creating the extra storage capacity we currently lack.
“We should be persuading homes and buildings – as Germany is now doing – to cut back on energy usage wherever possible in the hope we can prevent formal rationing.”
But Downing Street rejected his calls saying they introduced a number of measures to help the public at the start of the summer.
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said Johnson – who is back in No.10 following his holiday in Slovenia – would be speaking to chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure that support measures due to come into effect later in the year remained on track.
However, the spokesman said that any further measures would be a matter for the next prime minister.
“Clearly these global pressures mean challenging times for the public. The government recognised that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the [energy] price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That is why, at the start of the summer, we introduced a number of measures to help the public. Clearly some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.
“By convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister.”
The prime minister returned from his holiday today after facing accusations he had been “missing in action” while the UK was mired in political and economic crisis.
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The Labour Party has attacked the prime minister for presiding over a “zombie government” just as the Bank of England warned of a looming recession and energy bills are expected to rise to almost £4,000 in October.
According to The Telegraph Johnson and his wife Carrie stayed at an eco-hotel in Jezersko in the remote Kokra Valley in Slovenia following their delayed wedding celebration.
The Vila Planinka, where rooms range from £242 to £542 per night, is a five-star boutique hotel which promises guests they will “slow down, harmonising your rhythm with your inner balance”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said: “People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders.
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“An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.
“Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more-secure economy that Britain needs.”
Boris Johnson will not intervene in the cost of living crisis this summer, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said it was up to his successor to make policy and he would not make any “new fiscal interventions”.
It means another four weeks of paralysis until the next prime minister is announced on September 5.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown claimed there is a “vacuum” at the centre of government which has stopped it tackling the cost of living crisis.
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He has called on the UK government’s emergency response committee, Cobra, to come together to tackle the looming crisis.
Brown warned that the country was facing a “poverty time bomb” and added: “Even if Boris Johnson has gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently creating the extra storage capacity we currently lack.
“We should be persuading homes and buildings – as Germany is now doing – to cut back on energy usage wherever possible in the hope we can prevent formal rationing.”
But Downing Street rejected his calls saying they introduced a number of measures to help the public at the start of the summer.
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said Johnson – who is back in No.10 following his holiday in Slovenia – would be speaking to chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure that support measures due to come into effect later in the year remained on track.
However, the spokesman said that any further measures would be a matter for the next prime minister.
“Clearly these global pressures mean challenging times for the public. The government recognised that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the [energy] price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That is why, at the start of the summer, we introduced a number of measures to help the public. Clearly some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.
“By convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister.”
The prime minister returned from his holiday today after facing accusations he had been “missing in action” while the UK was mired in political and economic crisis.
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The Labour Party has attacked the prime minister for presiding over a “zombie government” just as the Bank of England warned of a looming recession and energy bills are expected to rise to almost £4,000 in October.
According to The Telegraph Johnson and his wife Carrie stayed at an eco-hotel in Jezersko in the remote Kokra Valley in Slovenia following their delayed wedding celebration.
The Vila Planinka, where rooms range from £242 to £542 per night, is a five-star boutique hotel which promises guests they will “slow down, harmonising your rhythm with your inner balance”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said: “People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders.
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“An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.
“Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more-secure economy that Britain needs.”
A campaign group is calling for people to stop paying their energy bills – and it comes as BP reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years.
The UK is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with prices for petrol and gas soaring for British households. Typical household energy bills are expected to be more than £3,600 this winter, with bills set to rise again in October.
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Suppliers have blamed the war in Ukraine and surging wholesale prices for the hikes, but on social media, some have dubbed the current situation “the cost of greed crisis”.
BP recorded a profit of $8.45bn (£6.9bn) between April and June, more than triple the amount it made in the same period last year. And it is not the only energy firm to report a staggering profit – both British Gas owner Centrica and rival Shell have recorded huge earnings recently, too.
Rising energy bills are one of the main reasons for the cost of living crisis. The government did introduce a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies in July, but it does not apply to profits announced by BP and other energy firms between April and June.
And as more households continue to struggle to pay bills, people aren’t happy – which is why the ‘Don’t Pay’ campaign is demanding action.
The campaign group is trying to get at least one million people to pledge not to pay their energy bills if the government continues with its goal to increase the price cap on October 1.
“We started this campaign because we were worried about how we will pay our energy bills. Everyone around us is struggling and we know it will only get worse with no end in sight,” the campaign group says.
“So far around 1,300 people have expressed an interest to become an organiser in their town, village and city. From there we will fan out the campaign with a local presence.”
Speaking on ITV’s programme Peston, money saving expert Martin Lewis previously warned a bill payment strike could be on the horizon.
“The big movement that I am seeing is an increase of growth in people calling for a non-payment of energy bills, mass non-payment. Effectively a consumer strike on energy bills and getting rid of the legitimacy of paying that,” he said. “It’s small at the moment, there’s a Twitter handle with about 5,000 followers.
“We are getting close to a Poll Tax moment on energy bills coming into October and we need the Government to get a handle on that, because once it starts becoming socially acceptable not to pay energy bills people will stop paying energy bills and you’re not going to cut everyone off.”
‘Don’t Pay UK’ began trending on Twitter following the BP profit release, but there are some things you need to consider before taking part in the protest.
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What are the risks of taking part?
Of course, not paying your bills will have some consequences and you’ll need to look at the terms and conditions for your individual energy supplier to see what these may be.
SSE Energy, for example, says it will try to contact customers first regarding unpaid bills, but adds: “In some cases we might also try to visit you at home to work out the best way to pay, but we’ll add the cost of this visit to your account.
“We may take a case to court to obtain a warrant to enter your home. We don’t want to, but sometimes we’re left with no choice.”
Similarly, British Gas says it may do the following when met with unpaid bills:
Pass your details to a debt collection agency
Apply for a warrant to install a Pay As You Go meter to make it easier to pay back the money you owe
If possible, switch your smart meter to a smart Pay As You Go meter remotely.
Utility Bidder says if you haven’t paid a bill for 28 days, you cannot come to a repayment agreement and you refuse to have a prepayment meter installed without good reason, “your provider can disconnect your power supply”.
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It’s worth noting that the Don’t Pay campaign is discouraging anyone on prepayment meters who face self-disconnection if their credit runs out to get involved. This also goes for those whose energy bills are included in rent and risk eviction if bills go unpaid. Instead, they want those people to support them online.
If Rishi Sunak had any doubts that the shine has gone off his reputation among Tory MPs, the last few weeks will have removed them entirely.
Once seen as Boris Johnson’s heir apparent, the chancellor saw his popularity nosedive recently over an underwhelming Spring Statement and revelations about his wife’s tax affairs.
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HuffPost UK has learned that Sunak has been meeting with groups of Conservative backbenchers to get their views on how he should tackle the cost of living crisis, and they have not been holding back.
“He’s not the golden boy any more,” said an MP who attended one of those gatherings last Monday night. “There were around 30 of us and we gave him a hard time.”
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Sunak’s answers to their forceful questions failed to assuage their anger.
“He came across as making excuses for the state of the economy,” one former cabinet minister told HuffPost UK. “The most wounding criticism was that it isn’t clear what the government’s economic policy is.
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“Some people brought up the fact that at least David Cameron and George Osborne had their ‘long-term economic plan’ and it was consistent. If tough decisions had to be made, they were made in that context.
“What is this government’s economic policy? No one has any idea.”
This uncertainty is typified by the chancellor’s will-he-won’t-he approach to a windfall tax on the enormous profits currently being enjoyed by oil and gas companies.
Thanks to the global spike in energy prices, the likes of BP and Shell have posted astronomical earnings, leading to Labour and the Lib Dems calling for a one-off levy, with the money raised going towards cutting household bills.
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The government’s response has been to criticise a windfall tax in principle, while being careful not to rule out bringing one in. This led to Tory MPs being forced to vote en masse against a windfall tax earlier this week, fully aware that the government may well end up backing the policy within days.
The confusion at the heart of government has even led to reports that two of the prime minister’s key advisers are making clear their opposition to a windfall tax at the same time as the Treasury appears to be laying the groundwork for one.
“We are all exploring every option available to grow the economy and ease the cost of living,” a senior Number 10 source told HuffPost UK. “It’s not the case of one lot advocating and another blocking.
“It’s just good government – testing the arguments, exploring the merits, getting the detail right and setting the bar high for doing something no Conservative instinctively wants to do.”
One former Conservative frontbencher said he had some sympathy for the chancellor.
“The problem for Rishi is that Tory MPs are all over the place on what they want done,” he said. “There’s not a consensus other than something needs to be done, and that makes his position very difficult.
“There are people who want a windfall tax and there are people that don’t want a windfall tax. Others want to see benefits uprated and others who want tax cuts.”
Asked what he thought Sunak would opt for, the MP said: “There’s going to be a windfall tax, that seems clear. But in the usual way, Tory MPs were marched up the hill to vote against it.”
The prime minister and chancellor are in discussions over how to tackle the rising cost of living.
UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via PA Media
Another Conservative MP said he would reluctantly support a windfall tax, given the extent of the crisis facing household budgets.
He said: “The current situation doesn’t feel sustainable. The oil and gas companies are making enormous profits out of events that are completely out of their control. How can we be the only people defending them?
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“If you look at what happened in the 90s, Labour went into the 1997 election promising to bring in a windfall tax and they won a landslide. If we do it, we instantly shoot Labour’s fox.
“You obviously can’t keep doing windfall taxes because they really do deter investment and harm business confidence, but there is a case for one now.
“If you look at our economic prospects, October looks horrific when the energy price cap goes up, and £150 council tax rebates just aren’t going to touch the sides.
“Government can’t solve every problem, but this is about protecting people from the worst of the cost of living crisis. I really think a windfall tax is going to happen.”
Another ex-minister said: “My sense from my conversations with colleagues is that while in principal they are against a windfall tax for exceptionally good reasons, the current circumstances, in which the energy companies are making massive profits, means the chancellor will probably go for one. He’s getting strong briefing that we should have one from the Treasury.”
But the MP warned the chancellor that the parliamentary party wants to see the tax burden – which is now the highest it’s been for 70 years – fall as quickly as possible.
“Tory MPs are getting fed up of being a high spend, big state party,” he said. “The definite sense of MPs and donors is that people are sick to death of not being a Conservative Party.”
On Wednesday night, Sunak told business leaders that he would use his next Budget in the autumn to cut their taxes, but he was silent on what immediate help he will provide for voters seeing their energy and food bills soaring.
The Treasury points to the £9bn-worth of support the chancellor announced in February to bring down council tax and fuel costs, while insisting that further support will come in October when the energy price cap is set to rise significantly once again.
But with two key by-elections coming in June, and Labour maintaining a consistent lead in the polls, Tory MPs are demanding action long before then. The big question now is what form that will take.
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A Labour source said: “The cost of living crisis has drawn back the tide on an out of touch, dilettante chancellor.
“But Rishi Sunak is really just a symptom of the wider Tory malaise. This is a government out of ideas and rapidly running out of road – and after a decade of failing to grow the economy, all they’ve got left to offer is tax rise after tax rise on working people.”
Leading charities have demanded the government take immediate action to help people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
It comes after Boris Johnson was criticised for unveiling 38 new bills in the Queen’s Speech, with none of them designed to immediately alleviate the financial pain being suffered right now by millions across the UK.
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The prime minister insisted the government’s plans would grow the economy and create thousands of new jobs, thereby bringing down living costs in the longer term.
But charities and think tanks contacted by HuffPost UK said ministers needed to take steps straight away as the public deal with soaring energy bills, rising inflation, higher council tax and increasing interest rates.
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They warn that unless they do, minis risk turning a crisis into “a national emergency”.
What has the government announced so far?
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In Ferbruary, Rishi Sunak unveiled a £9bn package of measures to help bring down energy and council tax bills.
Under the plan, energy bills will be reduced by £200, with the money being repaid in charges over the next four years. In addition, households in bands A-D are seeing £150 knocked off their council tax bills.
This is in addition to other measures including a 5p reduction in fuel duty, reducing the Universal Credit taper rate to allow people to keep more of the money they earn, increasing the national minimum wage, £25 extra a week in cold weather payments and raising the national insurance thresholds.
According to the Treasury, the total cost of the support already announced is £22bn.
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Rishi Sunak is under pressure to do more to help with the cost of living.
Oli Scarff via PA Wire/PA Images
Why was the Queen’s Speech such a let-down?
The Queen’s Speech setting out the government’s legislative plans for the next 12 months – delivered by Prince Charles after Her Majesty withdrew over health concerns – contained a total of 38 bills.
However, Boris Johnson was at pains to stress that there was no new money to help people feeling the pinch.
The prime minister said: “We must remember that for every pound of taxpayer’s money we spend on reducing bills now, it is a pound we are not investing in bringing down bills and prices over the longer term.
“And that if anything, this moment makes clear our best remedy lies in urgently delivering on our mission to turbo charge the economy, create jobs and spread opportunity across the country.”
The Prince of Wales delivers the Queen’s Speech during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords.
Alastair Grant via PA Wire/PA Images
Does Boris Johnson get it?
As an unapologetic populist, the prime minister’s instinct will be to make a major announcement on an extra package of financial measures to help struggling voters. But as a fiscal conservative, the chancellor will be resisting any such moves at this time.
This probably explains the bizarre mix-up between Number 10 and the Treasury on the same day the Queen’s Speech was announced.
Johnson told the House of Commons that he and Sunak would say more on the cost of living “in the days to come”, immediately increasing speculation of an emergency budget.
But sources close to Sunak quickly made clear that they knew nothing about it, and insisted no new measures were due before the autumn.
One ally of the Chancellor told HuffPost UK there were “no announcements as far as we are aware”.
They added: “Rishi has always been clear that we would set out plans for support on energy bills for autumn when we know what the [energy] price cap is going to be – but we’re not there yet.”
Does the government have any plan at all?
Johnson chaired a special cabinet meeting at an away day in Stoke with his top team on Thursday, where the government’s response to the cost of living crisis was top of the agenda.
Although no new announcements were made afterwards, it is understood that the PM and chancellor are eyeing a potential tax cut before MPs depart for the summer recess.
Talk of a windfall tax on energy firms’ profits – as demanded by Labour – is also increasing, despite both Johnson and Sunak repeatedly voicing their scepticism about such a move, arguing that it could hamper investment.
We also know that the chancellor will unveil a further package of financial support in the autumn, when the energy price cap is expected to rise significantly once again.
But critics say those on those on the lowest incomes, many of whom are regularly forced to choose between heating their homes and feeding their children, cannot wait several months for the government to step in.
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Boris Johnson chairs a cabinet meeting in Stoke-on-Trent
Oli Scarff via PA Wire/PA Images
What should the government be doing right now?
HuffPost UK contacted a range of charities to get their take on the crisis and ask what they believe Johnson and co should do without delay to alleviate the suffering of so many people across the country.
The universal view was that the government should be using the benefits system to urgently target support at those who need it most.
Katie Schmuecker, principal policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The widening gap between the incomes of the poorest and what they need to afford the essentials is not just something that happens naturally – it is a political choice.
“The chancellor could have used the Spring Statement to ensure that benefits were uprated in line with this year’s very high inflation, and it is not too late to act to protect people from the worst of this crisis. It just needs a political will and speedy action.”
Tom Marsland, policy manager at disability equality charity Scope, said disabled people were already dealing with the increased cost of electric wheelchairs, ventilators or adapted vehicles, before factoring in soaring energy bills.
“The Queen’s Speech was an opportunity to help disabled people, but this didn’t happen,” he said.
“The government must urgently provide increased financial support to disabled people direct through the welfare system.
“Disabled people have seen a real terms cut to their cut to benefits as they rise less than inflation. The government has said it will uprate disability benefits again next April, but what are disabled people supposed to do for the next 12 months if they can’t afford basic essentials like food and heating? We need to see benefits rise in line with inflation now.”
Polly Neate chief executive of Shelter, said: “Housing is at the root of the cost-of-living crisis. Private rents are higher than ever, bills are skyrocketing, and housing benefit is lagging dangerously behind. We’ve heard from renters whose landlords have said unless they agree to a hike in their rent they will be kicked out.
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“As a priority, the government needs to end the freeze on housing benefit so people can still pay their rent. It must also scrap no-fault evictions as quickly as possible to prevent more people from losing their homes unnecessarily, and the additional financial hardship that brings.”
Peter Grigg, chief Executive of Home-Start UK, said: “As a minimum, the government should ensure benefits rise in line with the cost of living. Benefits are rising by 3.1 per cent, but inflation is around 8 per cent and prices and energy bills rising even higher.
“So for low-income families this all means an income drop. If we can’t find ways to reduce bills and increase financial support for families, it will be pushing even more parents and children into poverty. Our children deserve better.”
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “We are calling on the UK government to bring benefits in line with the true cost of living. As an urgent first step benefits should be increased by at least 7 per cent.
“In the longer term, we need the government to introduce a commitment in the benefits system to ensure that everyone has enough money in their pockets to be prevented from falling into destitution. By failing to make benefits payments realistic for the times we face, the government now risks turning the cost of living crisis into a national emergency.”
Isabel Hughes of the Food Foundation said: “A commitment to a new Food Bill would have demonstrated that the government was serious about tackling the problems in the food system and making sustainable long-term action to reduce spiralling food insecurity levels a priority. Families need and deserve more support.”
The economist’s view
HuffPost UK also asked the highly-respected Resolution Foundation for its view on what the government could be doing, but is currently failing to.
Mike Brewer, the think tank’s chief economist, agreed with the charities that the benefits system must be mobilised to help the poorest in the country before it’s too late.
He said: “With average incomes on course to fall by around £1,200 this year – the tightest squeeze in half a century – new support will need to be bold.
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“Another big rise in the energy price cap this October means that further help with energy bills is inevitable. And while further universal support will be welcome, the Government must also target support at the low-and-middle income families who are at the sharp end of rising cost pressures.
“The most effective way to do this is to bring forward the big increase in benefits due next spring to this autumn, or even sooner if possible. This would deliver significant cash support to millions of hard-hit households, hold back rising poverty levels and would carry no long-term cost to the Treasury.”
However, sources close to Sunak quickly made clear that they knew nothing about it, and insisted no new measures were due before the autumn.
Gove suggested commentators were “chasing their own tails” and told Sky News: “There won’t be an emergency budget. It is sometimes the case that the words from a prime minister or minister are overinterpreted.
“The prime minister is right. We will be saying more and doing more in order to help people with the cost-of-living challenge we face at the moment, but that doesn’t amount to an emergency budget. It is part of the work of government.
“Last night the prime minister convened a group of ministers – we have all done work on some of the things we could do to help. Those policy initiatives will be announced by individual departments in due course as they are worked up.
“It is part of the process for a government that is always and everywhere thinking of how we can help and how we can provide support, both short term and long term.”
Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine described the issue as a “complete shambles.”
She added: “Millions of families and pensioners are struggling to get by. They need more help now before things get even worse in the autumn.
“Instead all we get from this Conservative government is chaos and confusion.
“An emergency budget is needed now to cut taxes for ordinary families while taxing the super profits of oil and gas companies. That would be the fair and right thing to do.”
Johnson made his comments in a debate on the Queen’s Speech, which contained 38 bills but no immediate plans for dealing with the cost of living crisis.
He said: “My right honourable friend the Chancellor and I will be saying more about this in the days to come.
“But at the same time as we help people, we need the legislative firepower to fix the underlying problems in energy supply, in housing, in infrastructure and in skills which are driving up costs for families across the country.
“And this Queen’s Speech takes those issues head on. And above all, we are tackling the economic challenges with the best solution of all and that is an ever growing number of high wage, high skill jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs.”
An ally of the Chancellor told HuffPost UK there were “no announcements as far as we are aware”.
They added: “Rishi has always been clear that we would set out plans for support on energy bills for autumn when we know what the [energy] price cap is going to be – but we’re not there yet.”
Families struggling with the cost of living crisis should consider buying value products, a cabinet minister said today.
George Eustice said that by going for cheaper “value” goods, families can “contain and manage their household budget”.
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The environment secretary said household spending on food in the UK was “the lowest in Europe” but sharp rises in other costs “adds to household pressures”.
He made the comments as shop prices increased at their fastest rate in more than a decade last month, according to the British Retail Consortium.
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Asked what his advice was to people who want a Sunday roast with a chicken but cannot afford it, Eustice told Sky News: “Generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products – they can actually contain and manage their household budget.
“It will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well.”
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He said rising fertiliser and feed costs had hit the farming industry, partly as a result of soaring energy prices.
Eustice said the better news was that the UK has a “very competitive” retail market with 10 big supermarkets and the four main ones competing “very aggressively”.
He said this meant they competed to keep costs down on everyday value items such as spaghetti.
Eustice added: “Where it gets harder is on things like chicken and poultry, and some fresh produce, where those increased feed costs do end up getting passed through the system because these people work on wafer-thin margins and they have to pass that cost through.”
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Shop prices are up 2.7 per cent on last year marking their highest rate of inflation since September 2011, figures show.
The impact of rising energy prices and the conflict in Ukraine continued to feed through into April’s retail prices, with no sign of them abating, according to the BRC-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.
Global food prices have also reached record highs, seeing a 13 per cent rise on last month alone, and even higher for cooking oils and cereals amid warnings that they will place further upward pressure on UK food prices as they filter through the supply chain over coming months.
Non-food products, particularly furniture, electricals and books, have seen the highest rate of inflation since records began in 2006, accelerating to 2.2 per cent in April from 1.5 per cent in March, exacerbated by disruption at the world’s largest seaport, following Shanghai’s recent lockdown.
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Retailers will continue to do all they can to keep prices down and deliver value for their customers by limiting price rises and expanding their value ranges, but this will put pressure on them to find cost-savings elsewhere.
“Unfortunately, customers should brace themselves for further price rises and a bumpy road ahead.”
Instagram and influencers – it’s difficult to imagine one without the other. I’ve happily followed fashion influencers on Instagram since I first downloaded the app in 2014. And there’s no doubt the limited representation of Black women in mainstream media made me feel connected to Black influencers specifically.
These were the people I ran to for makeup recommendations, to ogle their clothing choices and tap up their lifestyle content, from food to travel. I’ve kept up with everything my favourite influencers are wearing and buying for years.
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That is, until the pandemic.
It was during lockdown when I started feeling less inclined to scroll influencer content. This was partly because my own life, like many others at the time, wasn’t where I wanted it to be. I was job-hunting, while freelancing through a pandemic. It was difficult and I wanted social media to be a form of escapism.
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But the content I’d once found aspirational began to feel out of touch. Seeing people the same age as me buying things I couldn’t afford didn’t want to make me want to work harder – it made me feel like I was doing something wrong.
I knew the influencers weren’t really the problem, but I had to control how they were leaving me feeling. As someone who spends a lot of time on social media, it was up to me to decide which content I wanted to consume.
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So I started to unfollow or mute some of their accounts.
Like me, Toju, a 21-year old student from Glasgow, also noticed a shift during the Covid lockdowns in how she felt about the influencers she followed.
These were the weeks and months when it was easy to think other people had more space, more time, were being more productive or having more fun than you, despite the challenges we were all facing. Remember when it seemed like every past Love Island contestant ever was in Dubai over Christmas 2021?
“During that time, a lot of influencers were travelling or just living very different lives to me,” she says. “I’ve also recently felt a shift again this year as more influencers have moved towards luxury or designer items in their content.”
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More influencers that ever seem to be publishing elevated content, from showcasing their designer clothes and bags to eating out at expensive restaurants and generally living a life of luxury.
Of course, this content can be seen variously as aspirational or a form of escapism. It can also make you feel wholly inadequate in the here and now.
“I can’t even be ‘influenced’ because these items are simply entirely out of my reach and budget, so I gain nothing but feelings of inadequacy from them,” she says.
“I’m seeing more things that would like to have but can’t afford on a daily basis, something I probably wouldn’t see if I wasn’t on social media.”
But the answer isn’t necessarily coming off social media entirely. It could just be changing who you do follow or which platforms you use and for what.
Data analyst, Hena J. Bryan, 25, a content creator herself, says that she’s put many of the influencers she used to follow on mute for over a year now.
“They just don’t align with a lot of the things I find important,” she says. “I think relatability, for me anyways, goes beyond finances, especially as I can afford the things they’re advertising. I want to discover more influencers who offer more than pretty pictures, and I’ve found a few who speak to my interests.”
Bryan creates content about the books she is reading and enjoys engaging with others doing the same. She adds: “I think people should curate their feed. You literally have to be militant and protect your digital footprint/experience.”
SDI Productions via Getty Images
If you want to follow influencers, seek out those who genuinely speak to your interests.
It’s also worth being aware that how you engage with social media shifts over time. Akachi Priscilla Mbakwe, 32, a marketer from south London has lived online since her early teens. “I’ve been following influencers since I was on Tumblr,” she tells HuffPost UK. “People like Justine Skye who at the time were influencers, but the term wasn’t invented yet.”
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When she was younger, Mbakwe says she followed people “for aspirational reasons”, and for their fashion and make-up content.
“I started to feel different in the pandemic especially during the resurgence of Black Lives Matter. I saw influencers uploading pictures of themselves whist the caption was about George Floyd – they just looked silly to me.”
There’s self-preservation at play here, too. “I started to unfollow influencers because I realised subconsciously that I was constantly comparing myself to them,” says Mbakwe. “Now I have such a better relationship with myself and how I look and I don’t want to compromise.
“I still look at them from time to time but not like I used to. Also, now I feel that most influencers make the same content. They’re all following the same formula. If you follow one it feels like you follow all of them.”
So, where does ultimate responsibility lie: with the followed or their followers?
Though the life of an influencer looks perfect, influencers themselves will tell you that sometimes it’s far from that. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes and many posters rely on rented or gifted products to project the image they do, some earning little more than the followers who aspire to their lifestyle.
Thing is, even some of those influencers can’t. There are so many companies that let people rent out designer bags etc or they get sent these products. But the power of social media will make you think they’re up up. Some might be but majority is for show
“I don’t feel like influencers should change their content to suit us,” weighs in Mbakwe. “I think we (the consumers) should curate and have better boundaries with our feed if the content you’re viewing is making you feel bad.”
Bryan echoes this: “I believe we should all have social responsibility, but we shouldn’t have to force influencers to do/say things they don’t want to. You’re responsible for what you consume and I think TikTok has created a wave of new influencers who don’t lend themselves to perfectionism and are more relatable.”
With living costs only set to increase, it might be time for be more conscious about the content we choose to see. Arguably Influencers aren’t the ones to blame, just a byproduct of a capitalist society that rewards people for flaunting their wealth.
You have the power to choose who and what you engage with, so be honest about how your Instagram feed leaves you feeling – and make the changes you need.
