Keir Starmer has urged Boris Johnson to “make up his mind” and impose a windfall tax on North Sea energy firms, adding that the prime minister is “choosing to let people struggle” by delaying any further action. UK inflation soared to 9% in April – its highest level for more than 40 years – as the rising cost of gas and electricity pushed household energy bills to record levels. Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons liaison committee, has urged the government to introduce a £13.5bn package to help people through the cost of living crisis. Speaking in the Queen’s speech debate, Jenkin said: A summer package to rescue the most vulnerable households is needed to avoid real financial distress and personal anguish and to support economic demand of the most vulnerable households, or we are creating possibly a worse recession than is already expected. Like after the unforeseen Covid crisis, the Treasury must adapt to this unexpected war in Europe and accept this new global energy and economic crisis also requires a very substantial policy response. Jenkin suggested the package should include: the restoration of the £20 per week universal credit uplift; the abolition of VAT on domestic fuel; the abolition of green levies on energy bills, with the Treasury funding the initiatives they support directly; doubling the warm home discount; and trebling the winter fuel payment. He said these measures would cost £13.5bn in the current tax year if implemented from July – which he said was “less than the recent tax increases we’ve seen”. Explaining why this was necessary, he said: Even before today’s shock rise in CPI to 9%, the Commons library had given me striking projections for the effect of this on households. The full year of cost of just energy and food prices will rise by well over £1,000 per year for the lowest 20% of households by income. And by £1,500 per year for pensioner households. The lower 40% of households will feel severe stress from energy and food costs alone. The UK government’s plan to walk away from parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal is destroying the repaired relationship with the EU, political leaders and diplomats have said. The cost of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime and officers need to use their “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute people who steal in order to eat, the new chief inspector of constabulary has said. This is it for today. Thanks for following along.