Putin’s war: Rishi Sunak must act over cost of living as fuel prices soar and rural areas count the cost too – The Yorkshire Post says

Yet the sheer savagery of the conflict – and the extent to which Ukrainian civilians are now being targeted by Putin’s forces – is now triggering a global financial crisis which is already having significant repercussions as the world economy tries to recover from a Covid pandemic now entering its third year.

Ukraine: Putin’s war crimes and how West can respond to tyranny – writes David Hobbs, former Nato diplomat from Yorkshire

No family in Britain is now immune from an indescribable war being waged by the tyrannical Putin as soaring energy bills exacerbates inflation and the cost of living crisis – Age UK says a quarter of older householders now face fuel poverty while the TUC predicts that energy bills will rise at least 14 times faster than wages this year.

As diesel nudges £2 a litre in some areas, and Rishi Sunak is challenged to set out emergency action in his Spring Statement, the repercussions will be felt particularly acutely in rural areas where many homes and businesses are still heated by oil, and where motoring costs are traditionally much more expensive than urban locations.

These are concerns that Mr Sunak, as both MP for Richmond and Chancellor of the Exchequer, cannot afford to ignore when respected bodies like the Country Land and Business Association are accusing Ministers of sidelining countryside areas in the Levelling Up White Paper.

Mr Sunak had hoped, after Covid, to assert himself as a prudent Chancellor committed to tax cuts. Yet, while his instincts are laudable, he also prides himself on being a compassionate Conservative who risks an even larger hole in the public finances if he does not take appropriate action in response to Putin’s war.

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