'What A Load Of Bull': Martin Lewis Slams Government's Response To Cost Of Living Crisis

Martin Lewis has launched a ferocious attack on the government over its refusal to take immediate action to help people cope with soaring energy bills.

The money saving expert said claims my ministers that they can’t do anything until a new Tory leader is elected next month was “a load of bull”.

Education secretary James Cleverly told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “the candidates cannot put their plans into practice until they are prime minister”.

Appearing on the same show, Lewis said: “What a load of bull. That is complete bull. I won’t use the final word on the back of it. That’s just simply not true.”

He said the government had previously brought forward an emergency package of help “when the government was facing political problems due to Boris Johnson”.

“There is absolutely nothing stopping the government doing that now and we have a party in government that controls a majority of the House of Commons,” he said.

“That’s how our political system works. The fact that there is internecine warfare between two candidates to lead that party does not stop the government doing anything. Those two candidates could make an agreement about what is going to happen.

“So the idea that they can’t do anything is wrong, they are not willing to do anything. They are not willing to work together in a national crisis that is coming on the scale of the pandemic.”

Liz Truss last night ruled out meeting with her leadership rival Rishi Sunak and the prime minister to agree an emergency package of support before the new Tory leader is announced on September 5.

Lewis added: “For a government to sit there like zombies saying we can’t do anything – when you run an organisation, when you know there is a crisis of magnificent proportions coming, you do not say ‘oh we’ll just have to wait until we’ve got a change in our leadership’, you start dealing with it now.

“If we had a volcano in the UK that was exploding right now, I would be very surprised if government said it can’t get something done on the back of it because we haven’t got a working government. That is an emergency, what we’re facing now is a financial emergency that will cost lives.”

The consumer champion went on: “This catastrophe is bubbling up and waiting until September 5, when the direct debits will already have gone up, is not good enough.”