Jeremy Corbyn called on the government to recognise the impact of fuel poverty on the lives of ordinary British citizens in an impassioned speech yesterday.
The former Labour leader addressed a cost-of-living rally in London as demonstrations took place across the country in response to the crisis.
Unions have complained that chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement last week did nothing to allay fears about soaring fuel bills and rising inflation, with the TUC calling for an emergency budget to help families.
The lifting of the energy price cap on Friday will create an “impossible choice for many” – to eat or heat, said the People’s Assembly.
A spokesperson for the campaign group said: “Public outrage over the cost-of-living crisis is growing fast, and our response is gaining momentum.”
There were protests outside Downing Street in London, with similar events in areas including Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Doncaster, Glasgow, Hanley, Hull, Ipswich, Lancaster, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Preston, Redcar, Sheffield, and Southampton.
Corbyn, who spoke at the London demonstration, said: “With rising fuel, food and energy bills, the soaring cost of living is pushing millions into poverty, and the disgusting treatment of the sacked P&O workers needs urgent action from the Government.”
He added: “Fuel poverty means hunger, fuel poverty means death, fuel poverty means particularly older people dying in freezing cold places because they can’t afford to heat them.
“And this, in the fifth-richest country in the world.”