Call for an emergency budget in response to the cost of living crisis

The report, by Professor Donald Hirsch of Loughborough University, concluded millions of families are at risk of going without, because the support they’ve been given simply doesn’t stretch far enough.

Mr Brown said they would be pushed "over the edge" if the government does not address the cost of living crisis.

Writing in the Observer, he said: "The reality is grim and undeniable: a financial timebomb will explode for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shock waves through every household and pushes millions over the edge."

The report found 35 million people in 13 million households across the UK are under threat of fuel poverty in October. This is "an unprecedented 49.6% of the population of the United Kingdom", said Mr Brown.

It also said the additional one-off £1,200 support for low-income households will fail to compensate for three major blows to income from October 2021 to October 2022. The loss of the £20-a-week benefits uplift, the rise in the energy price cap, and an annual uprating out of line with inflation forecasts all mean the worst-off families will find it hard to bridge the gap.

Ellen, also Canon Chancellor at Liverpool Cathedral and Director of Social Justice for the Diocese of Liverpool, said: “The report gives us a lot of data about what we are facing at the moment, and what we are going to be walking into over the autumn and winter.

"We need urgent action, we need an emergency response to the cost of living crisis."

“What we are hoping is that government will take this situation as seriously as they did the Covid pandemic, and that they will put in place provisions that will enable people to not be in fuel and food poverty over the autumn and winter.”

Also among the signatories are Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region. You can read the full "Is Cost of Living Support Enough?" report from the Joint Public Issues team, here.

Everyone is also is invited to join us as attendees at a Zoom to discuss the report, hosted by the Joint Public Issues team and Christians Against Poverty, on Wednesday, August 10.

In an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside’s Daybreak programme, Ellen said collectively churches, community groups and the voluntary sector across the Liverpool City Region had done amazing work to respond to the emergency of the pandemic.

She highlighted that those groups were now having to continue to respond.

She said: “I’m wanting to go upstream and ask: 'Why is this happening? Why are we constantly having to respond to emergencies on the front end, on the street, in our churches and communities?'”

“Why aren’t people further upstream saying: 'What is going on here? Why does this keep happening? What can we do to stop this strategically?'

“We know that we are working as hard as we can, but we need our government to take action, it can’t just be left to the front line groups.

“The first call to action which is what Gordon Brown is asking for, and Donal Hirsch in this report, is an emergency budget, set by the government, that responds to the cost of living rise, and enables real people in real life situations to be able to afford their fuel, to be able to afford their food, and be able to live just normal lives, that you would expect anybody to be able to do.”

“For their wage to be able to pay for the goods that we need to be able to get through the autumn and winter that are heading towards us, so an emergency budget that responds to the cost of living.”