Sadiq Khan calls for Covid-like emergency aid to ease the pain of energy bills

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has urged the successor to Boris Johnson to immediately introduce a 'Covid-style' support scheme to help families facing poverty due to soaring energy bills.

Labour mayor says next Prime Minister - whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak wins the Tory leadership race on Monday - needs to understand the scale of the intervention needed in the face of the cost of living crisis.

"With the spiraling cost of living that is already hitting low-income people the hardest, it is essential that the government take urgent action to help make ends meet,” Mr Khan told The Independent.

The Mayor added: "This means immediately introducing a pandemic-type social relief package directly targeted at reducing their income to help them survive this winter, prevent inequalities to worsen. »

Mr. Khan calls for targeted support for the most vulnerable - including a 'living tariff' to ensure the poorest get a basic amount of energy every day and an increase in Universal Credit in line with 10.1 inflation %.

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The senior Labor official has also called for the power to freeze private rents in London for the next two years, and additional funding to provide free school meals to all primary school children .

Mr. Khan warned of unnecessary deaths this winter without "big...