Many local people have contacted me about the rising cost-of-living. The UK is on the brink of recession, with real wages falling and inflation rising.

In Barnsley, a third of residents are now in fuel poverty, people shouldn’t have to choose between heating and eating but that is sadly the reality for far too many.

I know community spaces that have opened up to allow those who can’t afford to put on the heating, and foodbanks, seeing a huge increase in usage, have offered a lifeline to many who feel they have no other option.

But the burden of the cost- of- living crisis should not fall on working people to resolve. I have raised cost-of-living issues around pensions, energy bills and social security in Parliament over the last few weeks on behalf of residents who have been in touch worried about how they are going to get through the winter.

The Government need to step up and deal with the cost-of-living crisis head on. They have made mistake after mistake throughout, re-introducing the controversial non-dom status allowing people to dodge paying a fair amount of tax, and it was their disastrous mini-budget that crashed the UK’s economy meaning many homeowners are now paying higher mortgages thanks to this Governments decisions.

Labour have solutions that will directly decrease energy bills right now.

We would have implemented a real price cap, ensuring that energy bills did not cost a penny more this winter, saving households £1,000, paid for by the proper windfall tax we would introduce.

We would bring forward a proper plan for growth across the whole country, including insulating 19 million homes to keep bills down for the long term, and introducing Great British Energy- a publicly owned clean energy home-grown company.

The only way to solve the cost-of-living crisis is through a Labour Government. We are ready to fix the economy and provide the fresh start our country needs.

It is not right that working people are suffering whilst energy giants’ profits are forecast to soar to nearly £150 billion this year.

They should be paying their fair share through a proper windfall tax. In the coming weeks I will be holding a cost-of-living event in the town centre along with Dan Jarvis MP.

We will be inviting organisations who can offer help and assistance to people through this crisis. If you would like to come along, please contact me at: stephanie.peacock.mp@parliament.uk.

Barnsley Council have also created their dedicated More Money in Your Pocket Page, which can be found at www.barnsley.gov.uk, or you can visit my dedicated cost-of-living section on my website at www.stephaniepeacock.org.uk.