Former UK Prime Minister Calls for Emergency Budget to Avoid 'Winter of Dire Poverty'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the British government to set an emergency budget to avoid skyrocketing cost of living and facing "a winter of dire poverty."

"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 for The Guardian, adding that outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss "must this week agree an emergency budget. If they do not, parliament should be recalled to force them to do so."

He added that "there is nothing moral about indifferent leaders condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty."

The media cited York University's figures as showing that over 4 million households will be spending a quarter of their net income on energy, with over 3 million spending 30% of their income on bills.

In late July, The Guardian cited UK energy-based consulting company BFY Group as saying that British households could receive annual energy bills of over 3,850 pounds ($4,636) in 2023, a threefold increase since the beginning of 2022. A source at one of the UK's largest energy firms told the newspaper that BFY Group's forecast was realistic.

Since 2021, energy prices in Europe have been growing as part of a global trend. After the beginning of Russia's operation in Ukraine and the adoption of several packages of sanctions against Moscow in the West, fuel prices have accelerated the growth, pushing many European governments to resort to contingency measures.