Rishi’s on our side with bills bonanza

IF families thought the cost of living crunch was already hurting, they should brace themselves for much, much worse.

Ofgem yesterday predicted that the energy price cap will spike again in the autumn to £2,800 – a leap of around 40 per cent on the current price ceiling of £1,971.

With food and petrol bills also rising steeply, and a potentially job-destroying recession looming, millions are fretting over their household budgets.

While Labour dishonestly seeks to portray the Government as coldly indifferent, it is to the Chancellor’s credit that he has already introduced emergency help for struggling families worth £22billion this year.

And it is also heartening to learn that with graver suffering on the horizon, Rishi Sunak is set to spring into action again with another multi-billion-pound support package to cushion the blow.

But let us be clear: While a one-off windfall tax on energy giants’ dizzying profits might be justified (and popular with the public), the £2billion or so it would raise may barely make a dent in the cost of living crisis.

There is, of course, a simpler and more Tory way of helping struggling families.

As the economy rebounds from the pandemic, soaring Treasury receipts have helped reduce Government borrowing, leaving the nation’s finances considerably healthier than predicted. Mr Sunak should use this fiscal bonanza to slash taxes.

Letting people keep more of their own money is the best way of encouraging growth – and escaping the economic mire.

Listening to Sir Keir Starmer, you might imagine that he could solve the worst living squeeze in a generation with a wave of his magic wand. That, of course, is nonsense.

By loosening the nation’s purse strings to ease people’s hardship, the Chancellor is torpedoing Labour’s mendacious message.