Money-Saving Expert Martin Lewis has lashed out at the government by claiming it was deliberately trying to use the Ukrainian war to justify throwing British citizens into poverty.
He appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to talk about the rising cost of living crisis the UK. He noted that some people are already facing energy bills of £4,000 a year with no external help outside of the government available.
Mr Lewis also claimed that there appears to be a deliberate attempt by the government to blame the war in Ukraine for the current financial crisis affecting homes across the country with citizens being told to make sacrifices due to the conflict.
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In response to comments made by Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Mr Lewis said: "Kwasi Kwarteng has said that many people are willing to make sacrifices because of Ukraine. I think he's probably right, but I am slightly worried that we are seeing what may be potentially a deliberate narrative shift that effectively says the entire cost of living crisis is due to Ukraine and therefore we all need to make sacrifices.
"And that is not correct. What has happened in Ukraine has exacerbated the situation, but the rises in energy, heating oil, water, Council Tax, broadband and mobiles, food, National Insurance were all in place before Ukraine.
"And when we have a Budget or a Spring Statement coming in a couple of weeks we need to be careful not to allow that narrative to happen and to be used as an excuse that we all need to make sacrifices because of Ukraine, and that's why we have to suck in the cost of living crisis. Because that is not a correct analysis.
"It is a worsening of the situation it is not the cause of the situation."
Asked whether people were still able to make savings in the current crisis, Martin Lewis admitted that in terms of the biggest area - energy bills - he 'no longer has the tools' to help people. He said: "The Money Saving Expert is out, this is going to be for Rishi Sunak to solve.
"Let's just put this in perspective. If we use a typical bill, and many people don't have typical bills, a year ago if you got the cheapest deal it would be around £800 that you could pay for a year on energy. The current price cap is £1,277.
"At the beginning of April, and the price cap's the cheapest thing there is, it's going to £1,971.
"We are one month through the six-month analysis period for the October price cap. If things continue as they are the price cap in October will be over £3,000 a year, and the cheapest fixed-deals available on the open market - there are some cheaper existing customer deals - are now over £4,000 a year.
"We're talking a £2,000 a year rise for the typical home on energy bills alone and there are no switchable deals that are going to save that for people so that's an unaffordable amount."
Mr Lewis noted how Brits could 'recoup some of the cost' by searching for better broadband and mobile deals, checking their Council Tax banding, and looking at getting a water metre installed.
"You can recoup some of it but nowhere near the entire amount," he added. Mr Lewis said that charity lines helping people with money and debt are 'already absolutely swamped'.
He added: "We are going to see a real increase in genuine poverty in this country, millions of people being thrown into poverty, and the only way we can stop that is not by being money-saving and tightening our belts it is by genuine political intervention.
"We have a spring statement coming and I would urge the Chancellor 'Let's nip this in the bud, let's not have people starving or freezing'."
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