Tell me what you’re doing to avert this crisis

AN open letter to my MP, Laurence Robertson

Dear Mr Robertson Today we were informed that average energy bills will rise to £3,549 on October 1.

Unfolding before our eyes is the biggest national emergency imaginable and yet the Government seems to be missing in action.

Average energy bills are then forecast to rise on January 1 to £5,386 and on April 1 to £6,616.

These figures make my head spin. They are mind blowing in their increase and in their impact.

The whole of our society is affected. Households, hospitals, schools, libraries, public services across the board, government buildings, all businesses small to large, retailers, cafes - everyone is expected to manage the increase.

We face the biggest economic collapse imaginable and while this distressing crisis unfolds, nothing is being done to reassure the citizens of the UK.

Tell me how my granddaughter, a student, who a year ago moved into a flat and was given a direct debit of £45 by her energy supplier, is now able to afford a direct debit of £250?

Tell me how a state pensioner on a pension of £7,332 is expected to survive when over half of that pension will go on energy?

Tell me how those working people who can claim Universal Credit, those who do not earn enough to survive without state aid i.e they earn 60 per cent less than the median income of £28,500, in other words £17,100 or less, are supposed to survive?

Do tell me as my MP what you are proposing to do to avert the biggest crisis this country has ever seen? What is the plan?

The candidate you support for next PM says she is not in favour of state aid or handouts or “to bung more money” to those that will struggle. Instead she is in favour of tax cuts. However, this increase is the equivalent of a tax increase of 100 per cent.

In other words your government is signalling the equivalent of a tax increase equivalent to 40 per cent for a person on an average salary of £28,000.

That is the real impact of this energy rise.

Patricia