Boris Johnson leadership and the Tory candidates should agree an immediate emergency budget tackling the spiralling cost of living, Gordon Brown has said, or risk "condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty".
The former prime minister spoke out as figures show that more than 4m households are likely to spend a quarter of their net income on energy. "The reality is grim and undeniable: a financial timebomb will explode for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shock waves through every household and pushes millions over the edge," Brown wrote in the Observer.
"The more the Conservative leadership election heats up, the more the remaining candidates have resorted to claiming the moral high ground. Raising debt is 'immoral', Rishi Sunak is saying. 'High taxes are immoral,' retorts Liz Truss. But there is nothing moral about indifferent leaders condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty."
He added: "Boris Johnson, Sunak and Truss must this week agree an emergency budget. If they do not, parliament should be recalled to force them to do so."
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