The war in Ukraine is creating a generation of ‘new poor’ in the UK

The war in Ukraine has created a generation of “new poor” in Great Britain, because of energy prices. One in five households is already facing poverty for this reason and it will double in October, when prices will rise again and European autumn will begin.

Michael Lewis, the CEO of E.ONsaid that the high prices of electricity and gas they will continue “at least one and a half years” and they will develop unparalleled pain in a large number of households, with enormous difficulty in paying these bills.

Every family has to spend 10 per cent of their utility bill on energy to maintain a basic standard of heating in Britain. Summer is usually cold in the kingdom and winter, freezing. They cannot live without heating.

The “windfall tax”

The British Treasury is preparing a “windfall tax” (windfall tax), as did Chancellor of Finance Gordon Brown when Labor led the privatized companies with millionaire profits in Great Britain. Its purpose oil and gas companies. This will be a temporary tax to reduce the cost of living.

Three cabinet ministers is against the tax, which they call “non-conservative”. But the Chancellor of Finance, who appeared with his wife on the Forbes list as a millionaire companion £ 700 millionis under intense pressure to enforce the tax, which YOUGOV polls show as “very popular.”

Seven out of 10 Britons are in favor of the tax. He draws inspiration from his predecessor, George Osborne, and Margaret Thatcher, who recovered £ 2.4 billion in a raid on North Sea oil and gas companies in 1980.

Osborne publicly declared himself in favor of an immediate “windfall tax”. He said the best way to apply it is “based on goals for families with more budget difficulties.”

The former British Chancellor explained that it should be applied by the Treasury, although Downing St. opposed. “I think it should be imposed by Sunak but it won’t solve the serious financial problem that the country will have in the next two years,” Osborne said.

The cost of living crisis affected the government after the war and the post-Covid epidemic. Inflation will be the highest in 40 years and it reached 9 percent last month.

Call for government intervention

michael lewis blamed the war on Ukraine for most of the energy problems they face and warned consumers that “the situation will worsen in the coming months.”

“In my 30 years in the industry I have never seen prices rise to this level,” he told the BBC. “I think in the next 18 months, we will see higher prices,” he warned. The long -term it depends on what happens in the war in UkraineWhat will happen to Putin? I have no idea how it will play out, ”he said.

The energy trader warned that in October his models reflected that “It will increase to 40 percent if the government does not intervene to stop it”.

Energy prices rose 54 per cent last month and hit the average electricity and gas bill at £ 2,000. If it increases by 40 per cent, families will pay an average of £ 2,750 per year for energy.

Michael Lewis admitted they called for immediate government intervention to find a solution before October. “The situation is very difficult for those with low wages or social benefits. Those people can’t”, He alerted.

The Resolution Foundation has warned that the price increase in April will increase the number of homes under energy poverty to 5 million and another 2.5 million will be added in October.

This drama adds to the need to improve the insulation of homes, the generation of nuclear power and the reform of energy markets, so that these families are not dependent on global gas prices.

“We are not in the middle of a cost of living crisis. We are at the beginning. This problem will grow in the winter months, when electricity bills rise another 30 percent, ”warns Martin Lewis about Saving Money.

An “edited” gene for cereal

Another crisis is food. Farmers in Britain will be allowed to grow cereal with an “edited” gene to ensure that food security is maintained in the face of deficiencies caused by war.

This week the government will introduce legislation in Parliament allowing “gene editing” of plants make them more resistant pain and the need for less water. It will be enacted within 15 days.

At least 1.7 billion people could suffer from famine in 100 countries due to grain shortages caused by the war in Ukraine, according to the United Nations.

Paris, correspondent

ap