PM piles the pressure on Rishi Sunak to give more support to struggling Britons as Boris says inflation could reach 10 PER CENT and admits there’s ‘more that we can do’ to help with the cost-of-living crisis
- PM admits ‘there’s more that we can do’ to help Britons in the cost-of-living crisis
- He concedes inflation could hit 10 per cent and cites the ‘crazy’ cost of chickens
- The PM’s comments will pile the pressure on Rishi Sunak to offer more support
Boris Johnson today admitted there is more that could be done to provide help for hard-pressed Britons during the cost-of-living crisis.
In a gruelling TV interview this morning, the Prime Minister at one point insisted his Government was doing ‘everything we can’ to help households with soaring prices.
But, minutes later, Mr Johnson acknowledged that there was room for greater action in helping Britons to pay sky-high energy bills.
The PM conceded that the rate of inflation could hit 10 per cent and cited the ‘crazy’ cost of chickens as an example of the huge squeeze on Britons’ incomes.
He was also confronted about the case of a 77-year-old woman called Elsie, who uses her bus pass to stay on buses all day in order to avoid putting on the heating at home.
Last month, inflation soared to a new 30-year high as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate increased to seven per cent in March from 6.2 per cent in February
Mr Johnson stressed there was a ‘global context’ to the cost-of-living crisis, caused by a surge in energy prices hitting all aspects of the economy.
Amid the crisis, the PM admitted Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s existing £9.1billion package of support for households to pay for gas and electricity wasn’t ‘going to be enough’.
‘I accept that those contributions from the taxpayer – because that’s what it is, taxpayers’ money – isn’t going to be enough immediately to help cover everybody’s costs,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
‘Of course that isn’t going to work enough in the short-term.’
When it was put to him that this meant ministers weren’t doing everything they could, the PM added: ‘There is more that we can do.
‘But the crucial thing is to make sure we deal with the prices over the medium and long term.’
Boris Johnson conceded that the rate of inflation could hit 10 per cent and cited the ‘crazy’ cost of chickens as an example of the huge squeeze on Britons’ incomes
The PM’s comments will pile the pressure on Mr Sunak and his Treasury team to come up with more support for Britons struggling to pay household bills
Last month, inflation soared to a new 30-year high as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate increased to seven per cent in March from 6.2 per cent in February
Mr Johnson’s comments will pile the pressure on Mr Sunak and his Treasury team to come up with more support for Britons struggling to pay household bills.
The Chancellor is already facing widespread calls to deliver greater help ahead of a predicted further hike in energy bills this autumn.
However, the PM pushed back against Labour’s demand for a windfall tax on energy companies to fund Government action.
Mr Johnson appeared on ITV on the same morning that BP reported its profits had soared above $6billion to the highest in a decade on the back of rising oil and gas prices.
‘If you put a windfall tax on the energy companies, what that means is that you discourage them from making the investments that we want to see that will, in the end, keep energy price prices lower for everybody,’ the PM said.
He added: ‘We have a short-term hit caused by the spike in energy prices across the world.
‘If we respond by driving up prices and costs across the board in this country, responding by the government stepping in and driving up inflation, that will hit everybody.’
Labour’s shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband condemned the government’s refusal to levy a windfall tax on energy companies as ‘deeply wrong’ and ‘unfair’.
He added it ‘tells you all you need to know about whose side this Government is on – and it’s not the British people’.
After the PM’s bruising ITV interview, Downing Street promised there would ‘more help coming’ to help address cost-of-living pressures.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said: ‘We’ve introduced billions of pounds of support – £9billion to help with energy bills alone – some of that support is phased in and comes in throughout the year.
‘So, there will be more help coming.’
The spokesman also stressed the Government would keep the level of support ‘under review given the volatility in things like energy prices’ and vowed ministers would ‘step in as necessary if required’.
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