As soaring energy bills and tax rises begin to bite, a Newcastle MP has warned that for many families "there really isn't a light at the end of the tunnel".
Catherine McKinnell said that her constituents in Newcastle North were "frightened" to put the heating on, as bills surged by more than 50% when the price cap was lifted earlier this month.
In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a cut to fuel duty, a rise in the threshold at which people start paying National Insurance and pledged to cut the basic rate of income tax before the next general election.
Read more: Protesters take to the streets of Newcastle city centre as cost of living crisis deepens
But charities, councils and opposition MPs have all warned the measures do not go anywhere near far enough to avert a cost of living crisis.
Ms McKinnell, speaking to the Northern Agenda podcast, said: "I can't see how the government can ignore the reality staring them in the face, which is that households can't afford to put the heating on, people are frightened.
"We're in really cold weather right now. It's an unusually cold April and people are frightened to put the heating on because they know it's going to cost them double or triple what it cost them only a month ago.
"People don't have any extra income coming in and everything is going up in cost and due to the projected rise of inflation, everything's going to keep going up.
"There's really no light at the end of the tunnel for an awful lot of these families."
She added: "At the same time, we've seen Universal Credit cut by £20. Now that might not sound like a huge amount of money but it's £1,000 over the year for the families that are affected.
"The government has some really easy things it can do to target support, it can start by giving back that £20, that was a terrible decision.
"I don't think they're going to have any choice but to revisit their current plans."
But Boris Johnson defended the Government’s response to the cost of living crisis on Thursday, telling reporters: “We're already doing a huge amount to help people with the immediate cost of living and of course we are going to do more”.
