The TUC said that pay and benefits will be “swallowed up” by higher bills and 30-year-high inflation, estimating that energy bills will increase at least 10 times faster than wages this year.
The TUC has called on Sunak to announce fresh economic support, including new grants paid for by a windfall tax on energy company profits, an increase to the minimum wage to at least £10 per hour, and a boost in Universal Credit.
“People shouldn’t be struggling to cover the basics, but millions of families have been pushed to breaking point by spiralling bills and soaring inflation,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady. “This is a living standards emergency. Rishi Sunak must come back to Parliament and present an emergency budget. We need a proper package of economic support for families.”
Across the week, protests against the spiralling cost of living are scheduled for various parts of the country, including Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Peterborough, and Cambridge.
Ian Allinson from Manchester TUC, said: “We can’t go on like this. The government can find money when it wants, wasting billions on useless PPE and writing off loans. If we stand together we can prevent the government, employers and landlords from driving more people into poverty.”
Speaking to the BBC, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he does not expect the cost of living crisis to ease until next year.
“It is going to be a difficult period ahead, I readily admit, because we are already seeing, and we're going to see, a reduction in real income,” Bailey told the BBC.
“We're going to start coming out of it in 2023, and two years from now, we expect inflation back to a more stable position.
“Inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, is expected to peak at 7.25% in April, more than three times its target of 2%, and average close to 6% in 2022.
“This is a world of external prices rising, reducing people's real incomes,” Bailey added.
Bailey also suggested that workers should not ask for big pay rises to cope with the rising cost of living. However, this comment has come up against a wave of criticism, with the TUC calling Bailey's advice on pay restraint “ill-founded.”
