Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the National Health Services Association, said in a statement that many “may face an appalling choice between skipping meals to heat their homes and living in extremely cold, humid and unpleasant conditions… at the same time as the NHS is likely to experience its toughest winter on record.” .
This unusual intervention comes after weeks of warnings that the UK is only the beginning of the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations.
Inflation topped 10% earlier this week, adding to the pressure on families already struggling to make ends meet. The country is on its way to entering a recession, with GDP expected to continue to contract through the end of the year and beyond.
On top of the economic pain, transport and port workers are striking, and there are warnings of more industrial strikes across the public and private sectors. Some lawyers in criminal cases have even gone on strike, disrupting already blocked courts.
But outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on his second vacation of the summer. When pressed on why Johnson will not return to London to come up with an urgent action plan, Downing Street says key spending plans must be taken by the next prime minister.
Johnson’s replacement – either Liz Truss, the current secretary of state, or Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister whose resignation led to his eventual downfall – will not be named until September 5. He would step aside, ignoring calls for him to leave office immediately and to allow a new leader to continue the business of governance.
The next prime minister will not be elected by the British people, but by members of the ruling Conservative Party, which is believed to have fewer than 200,000 people in a country of about 67 million people.
This is quite true from a constitutional point of view. In the United Kingdom, voters elect a local Member of Parliament. The party with the most seats — and with any luck, the majority needed to pass legislation in Parliament — asks for permission from the king to form a government. Traditionally, the leader of this party becomes the Prime Minister.
In 2019, Johnson won a majority of 80 seats in Parliament. While this has waned since then, the Conservative Party still rules the majority and, therefore, is still able to rule.
So why would Johnson’s allies say it is up to the next prime minister to take action on providing financial support to those struggling amid the cost-of-living crisis, given the urgency of the situation and the fact that the professional civil service could work to solve the myriad problems if directed.
A government spokesperson told CNN that while “the financial decisions for the coming months will be for the next prime minister, we continue to support people directly now with financial support as part of our current £37 billion package that will continue to arrive in the coming weeks and months to help people… bear the high cost of living.
But critics from across the political spectrum believe that this is not enough and that tougher measures must be taken now.
Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative MP who supports Truss in the leadership contest, believes the gravity of the situation means the party must end the contest early and install the new prime minister, or enable Johnson to take action now.
“The competition has gone on for too long and we need leadership now. Navel staring is never a good thing when critical decisions need to be made. So we must either enable the current leader to take action, or end the competition,” he told CNN. The British people rightly expect us to address this crisis.”
In a potential harbinger of what could become a stinging criticism of the government in the future, Labor MP Chris Bryant told CNN that “Johnson must take action now on the cost-of-living crisis. It’s a combination of laziness and complacency. It’s preventing them (conservative leadership candidates) from taking action. “.
The opposition Labor Party this week called for an immediate withdrawal of Parliament so lawmakers can take immediate action to freeze energy bills, which are set to nearly double in October after the regulator raised a limit on supplier prices.
In a letter sent to Johnson and the leadership contenders, MP Thangam Debonaire, Labor’s shadow leader in the House of Commons, urged the Conservatives to “return Parliament early on Monday 22 August so we can freeze the energy price cap now”.
She added that next week, the UK’s Energy Regulatory Authority will “announce the raising of the ceiling on energy prices. Against the background of inflation rising to 10.1%, this will not only lead to more anxiety for families, forcing them to trim more before winter. But it will create a shock With businesses and families on edge, we can’t wait to act.”
An energy price cap is a subsidy implemented by the government to prevent energy companies from overcharging customers.
CNN has approached Downing Street and several government officials for comment on the proposal, but at press time it has not received a recorded response.
Given the gravity of what will happen to the country, not even Johnson’s erstwhile allies and dyed Conservatives can understand why the ruling party is happy to back down.
None of the leadership candidates provided concrete examples of the specific policies that would be implemented in order to deal with a hellish winter for many. The satirist might say that this is because any solution would require huge amounts of public spending, which is anathema to the members of the traditional Conservatives who will choose the next prime minister.
It may also be because public spending of this magnitude cannot be explained at the same time as pledges of immediate tax cuts and a refusal to raise taxes on large corporations, including energy companies, to fund a way to weather the crisis.
However, it won’t be long before Johnson’s successor will have to respond to a larger group of critics. First, their political opponents in Parliament. Then, the wider audience at the ballot box.
Inaction with dire warnings appearing every week could be the ultimate mistake costing conservatives the upcoming general election. And after more than a decade in power, it would be hard to ask the public to forgive them for their sleepwalking in crisis.
