https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/barrage-of-bill-hikes-sees-the-cost-of-living-crisis-bite

Government must take action, union warns: ‘We can’t go on with billionaires getting ever richer whilst working people suffer’

CASH-STRAPPED Britons will be squeezed for an extra £66 every month from April as a barrage of bill hikes sees the cost-of-living crisis bite.

Millions of hard-up households, already paying what MPs said were “world-beatingly” high bills, will be forced to shell out even more for essentials from Tuesday.

GMB union urged ministers to take bold steps to help working people facing across-the-board price rises for energy, water, council tax, internet, road tax and the TV licence.

“Households have been struggling with the cost-of-living crisis for several years now,” said the union’s national secretary Andy Prendergast. “This latest set of increases shows there still isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel.

“The government must take bold steps to put money in people’s pockets,” he thundered. “We can’t go on with billionaires getting ever richer whilst working people suffer.”

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Cat Hobbs, founder and director of public service campaign group We Own It, said: “With bill hikes across many essential services this spring, it looks like the cost-of-living crisis is sadly here to stay.

“The word ‘essential’ is important here. Heat, shelter, water — these are all things that we need to survive and none of them are getting cheaper.

“Water is the poster-child for the failed privatisation experiment, with companies on the brink of collapse scrambling for more of our money.

“Companies that have racked up huge debts to pay dividends are now running out of other people’s cash.

“Decades of underinvestment has killed our rivers and put the whole water network at risk.

“Modern, publicly owned services must be the goal for any progressive government.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/barrage-of-bill-hikes-sees-the-cost-of-living-crisis-bite