IT'S JUST AS BAD AS THE PANDEMIC

Tories told to act NOW to ease crisis & avert winter deaths

- GRAHAM HISCOTT and BEN GLAZE

STARK WARNING OVER IMPACT OF THE COST OF LIVING NIGHTMARE

SOARING energy bills could cost lives and are a national crisis on the scale of the pandemic, money-saving expert Martin Lewis warns.

He spoke out amid growing calls for Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to work with Boris Johnson to agree urgent support for struggling households before the race for No10 ends on September 5.

But frontrunner Liz Truss dismissed the suggestion and signalled hard-up families may wait months for help.

Instead, she vowed to reverse the National Insurance rise and suspend the green energy levy, but warned the parliamentary process could hamper the plan. She said: "I will act on day one to make it happen as soon as possible... it will happen well before April."

Yet in just a fortnight Ofgem is due to announce the new energy price cap, which experts predict could raise an average £1971-a-year dual-fuel standard tariff by 82 per cent to £3582.

The cap could then jump to an average £4266 in January and £4426 in April, it was predicted this week.

Lewis hit out at the idea that no help can be agreed until after a new Prime Minister is in post.

The consumer champion told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "That is complete bull. That is simply not true.