The SNP has criticised the Tory government for being “missing in action” over the cost-of-living crisis, after a new report warned that a “catastrophe is coming” due to rapidly rising energy bills.
The Resolution Foundation report highlighted that the “explosion” in energy bills will be “totally unmanageable for millions of households.”
Jonny Marshall, a senior economist at the think tank, added that “…soaring energy bills risk causing serious physical and financial damage to families across Britain.”
Separately, a survey for Citizens Advice, the Social Market Foundation and Public First found majority public support for targeted support for struggling households – with 62% of voters believing that households should receive help with their fuel bills, 59% calling for help with water bills and 58% for food bills.
Earlier this week, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford wrote to Boris Johnson challenging the Prime Minister to use the UK government’s reserved powers to block an energy price cap rise to help households as one of his last acts in office.
Commenting, the SNP’s Shadow Chancellor Alison Thewliss MP said:
“While households grapple with a cost-of-living crisis that is spiralling rapidly out of control, the Tory government is missing in action – too consumed by its own internal chaos to get on with the day job of protecting households.
“These latest warnings of a looming catastrophe and millions of families being left out in the cold due to unmanageable bills must serve as a wake-up call for the UK government to act before more people are pushed over the brink.
“People are frightened to open their bills and are struggling to make ends meet.
“They need help now.
“Instead, the Tories are more focused on their own interests in the leadership contest than the interests of struggling households.
“The Tory government must act now by taking steps to freeze the energy price cap and bringing forward an emergency budget to deliver the help families and small businesses need.
“With each day it refuses to step in, the UK government is consigning more people to hardship and underlining the need for Scotland to become an independent country with the powers and levers to act.”