Rachael Maskell MP wrote to the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, to address the current and escalating cost of living crisis. With inflation now out of control at 10.1% and rising, along with housing, energy and food costs soaring, it is essential that the new Prime Minister gets a grip on the economy and makes it her urgent priority to ensure that no household struggles this winter.
The MP for York Central, has also called on Liz Truss to ensure that wages, pensions and social security payments match the economic reality of these extraordinary times. Pensions and social security were held down by the Government at 3.1% earlier this year, and yet it is the elderly, disabled people and the poorest who are going to have the least resilience this winter.In York, where housing prices are going through the roof, due to the boom in airbnbs and second homes, as demand outstrips supply, the MP has also asked the Prime Minister to intervene. However, the Council must also carry its own share of responsibility for having some of the lowest housing development numbers in the country. The local authority is wrongly prioritising luxury apartments and student accommodation over genuinely affordable and social housing which York desperately needs.
Rachael Maskell MP says:
“The Prime Minister has a job to do. For as long as people in York are struggling with housing, energy and food costs, I will be on her heels to make her confront the realities that people across York face every day. There is no time to waste, and therefore, in writing to Liz Truss, I have set out the priorities that she must urgently address to bring this cost-of-living crisis under control.“Countries like France, where they placed a 4% cap on energy costs have seen inflation at 6.1% and people there are able to live within their means, however this year the Tory Government has driven inequality, giving tax relief to the oil and gas tycoons, while expecting the people to pay for this through extortionate energy bills.
“I have also called on the Prime Minister to get inflation under control and ensure that wages, pensions and social security payments reflect the current economic reality. We have seen too much grand standing from Liz Truss to curry favours from the Conservative Party members this summer to get the job at No.10, now that she is in office, she has to urgently turn her attention to the reality the rest of the country faces. There is no more time to lose.”