Cost of living: East Sussex family considers cooking a “luxury”

A Conservative spokesperson said: “The number one thing we can do to help families with the cost of living is to bring down inflation – and the news that inflation is back to 2% is helping.

“We’ve also extended the Household Support Fund, giving local authorities an extra £500 million to support people in their local area with the cost of essentials, with a focus on supporting those living with disability.”

Labour says it has a “fully-costed, fully-funded plan” to tackle the cost of living, bring down energy bills, and “get the economy growing again to deliver the change that people across the South East need”.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “I am putting fixing the care crisis at the heart of the Liberal Democrat offer to the country at this election.”

The party has also announced plans to provide free personal care that covers help with mobility, hygiene and medication, as well as nursing care, regardless of where people live.

Reform UK says it hopes to cut energy taxes on “ordinary people”, removing VAT from energy bills, and removing all subsidies from renewable companies.

“They say they can produce cheaper energy, then why do they need £11bn in subsidy per year when it could go to poor people like this instead?”, a party spokesperson said.

The Green Party said energy bills are too high because “we have the worst-insulated homes in Europe” and it would bring bills down by spending £29bn on a street-by-street insulation retrofit programme.

The party said: “Alongside this we would increase Universal Credit and legacy benefits by £40 a week, and restore the value of disability benefits, with an immediate uplift of 5%.”