As we emerge from another week of extreme hot temperatures, the cold nights of winter should be the last thing on local people’s minds.
However, with cost of living rocketing and the energy price cap set to rise again, I know more families than ever are becoming scared of how they will pay their heating bills in the coming months.
Over the last year, people have already been making sacrifices to their budgets where they can – from pensioners cutting down on essentials to parents giving up meals so their children can eat.
Now, for most, there is no longer any room for manoeuvre.
This is a national economic emergency, and unless changes are made, millions across the country will be left unable to afford turning their heating on at all.
Indeed, even before this crisis, in 2020, 1 in 5 households in Barnsley East were living in fuel poverty.
By January 2023, research from the University of York estimates that this could rise to over half of households across Yorkshire and the Humber.
Instead of stepping in to help local people whilst this unsustainable economic crisis grows, however, the Tories have been busy fighting with each other.
Neither of their leadership candidates has a vision that meets the scale of the challenge people are facing.
Labour, on the other hand, have this week announced an emergency plan. To help those who need it, we will immediately stop energy bills from rising this winter, freezing the price cap, and saving the typical household £1,000.
This £29bn plan will be fully funded through a tax on the oil and gas producers, who have been making record sums from the crisis whilst the people of Britain have suffered.
By putting people above profits, the plan will not only prevent working families from paying increasing bills, but will also bring inflation down by 4%, easing further pressures on the economy.
Further, after 12 years of Conservative governments failing to secure Britain’s energy supplies, Labour would lay the foundations for cleaner, cheaper energy in the long-term – making us less vulnerable to global shocks, like the war in Ukraine.
By investing in home-grown energy such as solar, wind, hydrogen and nuclear power, we would reduce our country’s reliance on foreign supplies and provide security for the future.
Labour would also upgrade the insulation on 19 million homes, reducing the amount of energy these households need to use, and slashing their bills £1,000 per year.
Measures like these will look to ensure that British families do not experience a crisis like this again.
As it stands, the Conservatives have lost control of the economy, and working people are being left to pay the price.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Labour can give Britain the fresh start it so desperately needs – taking the cost of living emergency seriously, and putting ordinary people first as we reboot the economy.