London's Mayor Sadiq Khan has issued a grim warning that millions of Brits won't be able to both properly heat their apartments and buy enough food in the upcoming winter amid rapidly surging prices that a likely to see increases to energy bill caps.
Khan referred to projected electricity costs for next April, which suggest that the bill cap will jump from current level of around 2,000 pounds all the way up to almost 6,000 pounds. The electricity bill hike will affect small businesses as well, he stated. Khan also noted that prices on goods such as milk, bread and cheese soared by 40% over the past year.
The mayor further stressed that Londoners are facing a "triple whammy" with unbearable rent costs adding to the woes of expensive food and electricity. He pleaded with Whitehall to act "bold" and swiftly in order to save Brits from making "heartbreaking decisions this winter".
Khan namely proposed freezing caps on energy bills, as well as introducing a Lifelife Tariff for "the most vulnerable households". He explained that under this tariff families' "basic energy needs" will be provided for free and they will only be charged for electricity once they exceed a certain limit.
To fight the rising rent prices in the capital it's mayor asked Whitehall to give him authority to freeze them for a two-year period for around 2.4 million renters.
In addition to all that, Sadiq Khan suggested that the government must introduce a number of extra measures of support for the population, such as raising Universal Credit payments in line with inflation, providing free meals in primary schools, and impose an extra windfall tax on energy profits.
Europe has been suffering from high electricity costs and food prices' inflation. The former is exacerbated by the reduced inflow of natural gas specifically from Russia, while the latter by growing oil, and by extension fuel, prices. Both of these processes were largely caused by the decision of the western governments, including the UK, to impose sanctions against Russia over the special military operation in Ukraine.
They namely introduced a ban on Russian oil, creating an artificial shortage of a commodity that directly impacts prices of all wares delivered by transport, including food. Sanctions also impeded the return of gas turbine pumps from maintenance in Canada to Russia. These pumps are used to transfer gas through the Nord Stream pipeline and the failure to return two of them from maintenance led to a reduction of the pipeline's capacity to two-thirds and occasional shutdowns for minor maintenance of the remaining functioning pump.