‘Gordon Brown is clearly right’: Ex-PM hailed for cost of living plan

Gordon Brown has been widely praised for unveiling a comprehensive plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, with commentators suggesting he has “taken over as prime minister”.

With both Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer on holiday amid soaring anxiety about sky-high energy prices, the former prime minister called for the energy price cap to be cancelled – and urged ministers to negotiate new lower prices with companies.

Writing for the Guardian, Brown compared the coming crisis to the 2009 banking breakdown, where some banks were briefly nationalised in an effort to protect consumers.

‘Time and tide wait for no one’

Warning that time to act was running out, he said: “Time and tide wait for no one. Neither do crises. They don’t take holidays, and don’t politely hang fire – certainly not to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the whims of two potential successors.”

The day after annual bills were forecast to breach £4,200 by January, Brown said the government should “pause any further increase in the cap” – and then negotiate agreements with energy companies to keep prices down.

And he said the government should consider bringing companies who did not meet certain requirements to be brought into public ownership.

Brown wrote: “Families of 2022 are about to suffer more than in 2008-09 and only bold and decisive action starting this week will rescue people from hardship and reunite our fractured country.”

His intervention won widespread praise on Twitter, with many onlookers hitting out at Starmer and Johnson for being missing in action.

Here are some of the best reactions.

Henry Goodwin

Henry is a reporter with a keen interest in politics and current affairs. He read History at the University of Cambridge and has a Masters in Newspaper Journalism from City, University of London. Follow him on Twitter: @HenGoodwin.