Demonstrations are set to take place on Saturday, including one outside Downing Street in central London and others in Cardiff and Birmingham. The protests followed a significant rise in the energy price ceiling on Friday, with the average household gas and electricity bill rising to 97 1,971 a year. A further jump in October could raise costs by up to 2. 2,600. Groups including the Trade Union Confederation and anti-poverty activists have expressed concern about the changes, saying that when combined with rising inflation and low wages, they could push people into “impossible choices” between heating their homes or eating. A spokesman for the People’s Assembly against austerity, the organizers of Saturday’s series of events, said: “Public outrage over the cost-of-living crisis is growing rapidly and our response is gaining momentum.” “We call them hungry children and the government shrugs its shoulders, politically speaking,” said his national secretary, former Labor MP Laura Pintcock. The rise in prices is due to higher energy demand, as economies recover from the effects of the Covid pandemic, with supply unable to keep up. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also exacerbated the problem, with some countries halting or restricting oil and gas purchases from Russia. Ministers have announced a city council tax cut for April and a 200 200 loan available from October to ease the burden, but Labor has said there should be an unexpected tax on oil and gas companies to help provide support to those in need. In France, the government has cut energy bills increases to 4% this year. Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said: “We [the government] can not completely undo the effects of global markets and global pressure, for example, on energy, which is obviously the main focus right now for most people. “But we will give the support we can, as well as whenever we can, as I say, looking … in general at what we do with public money.” Labor said the government should pass laws to keep prices low. Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “We would meet with oil and gas companies to make sure it happened, and if it did not, then we would take legislative action to make sure it happened. “I think we need to see legislation if the North Sea oil and gas companies, the gasoline retailers, are experiencing record profits and are not transferring any of these savings to customers.” She said she was shocked that the increase in national insurance contributions was going on when people had to face other rising costs. “It’s an honest begging to think when we think about what people will have to pay in the coming weeks and months, that the government would not do much more to support people, let alone make things harder,” he told Times Radio. In the midst of a renewed focus on energy, the government’s strategy on the issue has not yet been revealed – weeks after its announcement. Reports in the Times suggest that Boris Johnson was considering tripling the amount of onshore wind power by 2035, despite the fact that many Tory supporters opposed it. Nuclear power is also expected to occur to a large extent. Asked why there was a delay and whether he supported onshore wind farms, Lewis said: “It’s a complicated job to see how we can have a holistic energy policy package that looks at all aspects of energy and can become more domestic-supportive. in it, which will have a positive impact on prices. It’s right that they spend so much time looking at it. “
