A former Tory deputy prime minister warned the UK will go through a several crises “fast and thick” and a “very nasty situation” in the coming months.
Lord Michael Heseltine said the government is “lurching from crisis to crisis” and is “patently not in control” as they are facing warnings of a winter of discontent similar to the 1970s.
Heseltine, who has a leading Tory during the 1979 winter of discontent, which involved rising inflation, and was part of a government who introduced a three-day working week as a result of an energy crisis, warned taxpayers are currently at increasing risk.
Increasing demand for taxpayers’ money
He told Sky News: “I think that we are heading to a significant increase in inflation, which will lead to increases in interest rates.
“These crises in industry after industry are going to come now fast and thick in ensuing months and every time there will be a demand for taxpayers’ money.
“Sooner or later there are going to be interest rate increases which, of course, will impact very dramatically on very large numbers of people – particularly those with mortgages.”
Heseltine, who had the Tory whip suspended in 2019 for saying he would vote for the pro-Remain Lib Dems in the European Parliament elections, also hit out at the government’s Brexit slogan, ‘Take Back Control’.
Brexit discontent
He said: “Can you show me any area where you think this government has actually achieved a greater degree of control?
“It is lurching from crisis to crisis and it’s patently not in control.”
Last month, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister warned the UK is facing a “winter of discontent” after the Tories pushed ahead with Brexit.
With supermarkets having experienced issues with shortages, John Swinney argued that such problems show how “Westminster isn’t working”.
He said: “There is perhaps no greater example of how the Union has failed Scotland than the sorry saga of Brexit.
“Boris Johnson once spoke of Brexit and the ‘sunlit meadows beyond’, but the reality he has delivered is food rotting in the fields because there is no one there to pick it.
EU migrants
“The end of freedom of movement, and the draconian clampdown of migration from the EU has been a disaster for the economy – not just here in Scotland but the whole of the UK.
“Perhaps the most obvious example is the empty shelves in our supermarkets. But staff shortages are beginning to bite across the economy.
“Last month we saw the quite extraordinary news that the NHS in England had to tell GPs to cancel blood tests due to an acute shortage of supplies.”
“Every sector will feel the chill wind brought on by Brexit. And there is no end in sight.
“The Tories are unwilling and unable to take the simple steps required to fix the problem they have created. The UK is facing a winter of discontent and Westminster isn’t working.”
Related: UK faces ‘winter of discontent’ due to ‘sorry saga’ of Brexit
