Energy Bills - Tories, Press, And £85k

It was the unintended giveaway moment of the 2017 General Election campaign: all those hacks and pundits sniping and sneering at Labour plans to make those earning more than £85,000 a year to pay more tax, and justifying the welter of derision by asserting that such a figure did not put people in the top 5% of earners. Except that is exactly what it did do.

That showed, for those still unaware of the fact, that those hacks and pundits were not only obscenely overpaid, but also massively out of touch with all the ordinary hard-working people they claimed to champion. But if the lesson was taken on board, it was thus taken only briefly. Because, five years on, the media establishment is once again showing how out of touch it is.

This time, the issue that has exposed their ignorance of the reality facing millions of their fellow citizens is that of rising costs, most notably for food and energy. We already had the Tory MP looking down his nose at the lower orders and telling them there were things called Value and Essentials ranges that they could buy to lower the cost of their food shopping.

As if the less well-off didn’t know that. Also, for those who shop at discounters like Lidl and Aldi, that is where they are already. This patronising behaviour was compounded by the likes of Lee Anderson, who somehow has been elected as an MP, claiming that meals can be prepared at a portion cost of 30p. As a result, he was deservedly derided as “30p Lee”.

The right-leaning part of our free and fearless press took very little notice of all this: when campaigners like Jack Monroe forced their way onto the radar of public consciousness, it was usually through broadcast media or papers that were not signed up to the adoration of soon to be formerly alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his coterie of ineptitude.

But steeply rising food bills were merely an hors d’oeuvres for a much more substantial entrée, that being energy costs, which have already been allowed to rise significantly, and will rise again, by a whopping 81% in October, and a further 19% on top of that come next January. Many families have already faced a winter of heating versus eating. Now it’s set to get a lot worse.

How much worse? Former PM Gordon Brown has urged action to ensure the least well-off get help, stressing that any changes to Universal Credit (for instance) will take several weeks to implement. He has talked about recalling Parliament. But Bozo and Co are doing nothing. The right-wing press are more concerned about the Tory leadership contest. And the War On Woke.

Meaningless deflection - the Mail is today whining about a majority of babies being born OUT OF WEDLOCK (the shame! The ignominy!! The sheer irrelevance!!!) - is the order of the day for them. The Express is telling the world that it backs Liz Truss for Tory leader, as if anyone cares what the joke newspaper usually called the Daily Brexit thinks about such matters.

How bad are things going to get? On matters like this, Martin Lewis is the man. His warnings are dire. “The latest [Cornwall Insight] prediction, based on Ofgem's new methodology, is an 81% price cap rise in Oct (taking typical bill to £3,582/yr) and a further 19% in Jan (so £4,266/yr) … Action & planning is needed now. The zombie govt needs wake up sooner than 5 Sept”.

There was more. “The leadership debate must not ignore this portentous national cataclysm any more … They can't say they weren't warned … The excuse ‘we need to wait for Ofgem figure’ doesn't wash. In May govt asked Ofgem for forward guidance & made plans based on that. It can do the same now … An action plan is needed TODAY”. And he had this reminder.

“They are all in the same party, let's call on them to come together for the good of the nation rather than personal point scoring … People’s livelihoods, mental wellbeing & in some cases very lives depend on this”. He has urged immediate action, echoing Brown’s earlier call. But all Bozo has done is claim his chosen successor, Ms Truss, will deal with the problem on taking office.

The problem is that Johnson is a congenital liar and few will believe his claim - because he most likely made it up on the spot to get through that particular news cycle. Ms Truss appears beholden to Astroturf lobby groups like the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, whose modus operandi consists of misleading with the objective of demonising Government. They will be no use at all.

Because they, and the right-wing press, along with the Tory politicians, cannot understand the problem: they are all so comfortably off that they cannot comprehend a world where people can’t afford to eat out regularly, can’t afford long haul holidays, can’t afford designer labels, have to be careful with their food shopping, and still have to work all the hours God sends.

The £85,000 a year question has come back to haunt them. If they look carefully, they can see it coming on down the track towards them. But it is inconvenient to them, and so they do nothing about it. Britain faces a grim autumn and a potentially unspeakably bad winter. But the Tories and their press pals are too rich to understand, too flush with cash to care.

And they don’t know what to do about it. Welcome to basket case Britain.

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