Martin Lewis calls out government for 'load of bull' excuse over energy crisis

Martin Lewis has hit out at the UK government and warned Brits there will be a ‘national crisis on the scale of the pandemic’ if there isn’t an intervention to help tackle rising energy bills. 

The money saving expert appeared on Good Morning Britain where he blasted the ‘zombie government’ for refusing to help out as average energy bills are set to hit more than £4,000 a year. 

On the ITV show, host Charlotte Hawkins said: “The government seems to be adamant that nothing can happen until the new Prime Minister comes in, and that decisions can’t be made until September the fifth.”

However, a furious Lewis hit back: “What a load of bull. That’s complete bull – I won’t use the final word on the back of it, but that is just simply not true.”

He went on to explain that the government had initially made plans to make an announcement on energy in July and August but were able to bring this forward to May after asking Ofgem for forward guidance on what the price cap would be, and were able to make announcements about the £1,200 package of support available to the poorest households. 

Lewis said: “There is absolutely nothing stopping the government from doing that now.” 

He went on to say that ‘warfare’ between candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak shouldn’t impact any help offered, as it’s possible for them both to agree on a plan to be used in the future regardless of who wins the leadership role. 

Lewis added: “So, the idea that they are unable to do anything is wrong. They are not willing to do anything. They are not willing to work together in what we have right now, a national crisis on the scale of the pandemic. 

Martin Lewis says it’s not true that the government can’t take action on the energy crisis pic.twitter.com/3tXMr0fDzw

— Alan White (@aljwhite) August 10, 2022

“This is absolutely catastrophic and for a government to sit there like zombies saying ‘we can’t do anything’. Well when you run an organisation – which I have done and many other people have done – when you know there is a crisis of magnificent proportions coming, you do not say we'll just have to wait until we have a change in our leadership, you start dealing with it now. It is awful what is coming.”

Lewis's comments come after he took to Twitter urging the government to create an action plan. 

In the post he warned: “They are all in the same party, let's call on them to come together for the good of the nation rather than personal point scoring. People's livelihoods, mental wellbeing & in some cases very lives depend on this. This is a desperate.”