Martin Lewis warns of ‘civil unrest’ over cost of living crisis

Mr Lewis also predicted the energy price cap will once again rise to £2,600 in October
Bill McLoughlin19 May 2022

Martin Lewis has warned there could be “civil unrest” in the UK as families struggle amid the cost of living crisis.

Speaking as inflation hit nine per cent - a 40-year high, the money saving expert called on the Government to act in order to protect families across the country.

He told ITV’s Robert Peston: “I worry about civil unrest.

“So the Government needs to get a handle on it, and they need to get a handle on it quickly, they need to listen, and they need to stop people making choices of whether they feed themselves or feed their children.

“And we are in that now. We used to have a relative poverty condition in this country and we are moving to absolute poverty, and we cannot allow that to happen.”

As well as surging inflation, Britons have been hit with increased energy bills as well as rising council taxes and a 1.25 per cent rise to national insurance payments.

Mr Lewis also predicted the energy price cap will once again rise to £2,600 in October.

In order to aid families, the Government has been urged to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

Speaking on Thursday, Downing Street insisted it did not block the Treasury from imposing the tax amid increasing pressure on the Chancellor.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he had seen “lots of reports” on division between the departments but insisted Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are “aligned” on the issue.

Labour accused the Government of acting like “headless chickens” on the matter and suggested a U-turn is likely.

Asked if No 10 is blocking the Treasury from imposing the tax, the PM’s spokesman told reporters: “I have seen lots of reports overnight on this but the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are aligned.

“You’ve heard them both say effectively the same thing when it comes to these sorts of taxes.

“We want to see significant investment by these sorts of companies into British jobs to grow the economy, to secure our energy supply for the long term. We believe investment is the right thing to do in the first instance.”

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