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CAMPAIGNERS will descend on London to protest the soaring cost of living, it was announced today, as the direst prediction yet suggested annual energy bills could hit nearly £5,300 next year.
The new Enough is Enough initiative, a grassroots campaign backed by unions, foodbank charities and socialist Labour MPs, will hold the first of 50 rallies nationwide in Clapham on Wednesday evening next week, organisers confirmed.
Headliners will include RMT’s Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey, Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward and Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana.
The campaign, which is demanding a “real pay rise, cuts to energy bills, an end to food poverty, decent homes for all, and a wealth tax,” has notched up more than 300,000 supporters since its launch last Monday.
Mr Ward said: “Working people are seeing how a tiny elite want to make their lives all about working harder and longer for less.
“Now that same elite is profiteering from a cost-of-living crisis that will drive millions into poverty.
“Things can't go on like this – it’s time to say enough is enough.”
His call came as energy consultancy firm Auxilione predicted the energy price cap, which applies to every household across England, Wales and Scotland, could reach a staggering £5,277 a year in April 2023.
The forecast, which estimates annual gas and electricity prices will rise to £3,628 in October and £4,538 in January, is the worst yet as wholesale costs continue to rise.
Tory leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak’s new “three-part plan” to tackle the crisis, should he win the ongoing ballot of party members and replace Boris Johnson as prime minister next month, is “full of holes and doesn’t meet the scale of the challenge,” Labour charged today.
The ex-chancellor, whose resignation in July precipitated Mr Johnson’s fall from office, claimed a cut on VAT for energy bills would save the average household £200, while a “drive to identify savings across Whitehall” would free up about £10 billion to fund further support packages.
However, his “claim that he will find efficiency savings in government, when his lack of basic checks allowed £11.8bn of Covid fraud, simply beggars belief,” shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said.
Unions have also attacked plans by Mr Sunak’s rival, Liz Truss, to “grow the economy” by slashing taxes, saying the move would disproportionately benefit the rich.