Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak must “throw a cloak of support” around struggling Brits now to save lives, a former senior advisor to the PM has warned.
Samuel Kasumu, who quit Downing Street last April, claimed “we all knew this cost of living crisis was coming” making the Government’s poor response to skyrocketing living costs “even more difficult to swallow”.
The Chancellor is yet to permanently rule out a one-off Windfall tax on energy giants, as he told MPs on Tuesday “no option is off the table”.
But Mr Kasumu said Mr Sunak must “very quickly” consider the move, reinstate the £20 Universal Credit uplift and scrap the National Insurance tax as "things are going to get a lot worse before they get better."
The PM vowed to support Brits though the cost-of-living crisis in the same way it did during Covid.
But added he cannot "magic away" all the soaring food and energy expenses as he comes under increasing pressure to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis.
Speaking at the Welsh Conservative conference today, he said: "We’ve got the fiscal firepower to put money into people’s livelihoods to try to support (them)."
A No10 spokesman said Mr Johnson will "soon" make a decision on whether to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
Mr Kasumu worked as the Prime Minister’s special advisor on civil society and communities, before dramatically quitting his role after a controversial Government report denied the existence of institutional racism.
He spoke to the Daily Mirror before he released a report which reveals just how ethnic minorities in Britain are exposed to the cost of living crisis because they lack financial resilience.
In exclusive polling for his report, Opinium found only 10% of working-age Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Black African people had enough savings to cover three months without an income.
And around 30% of those ethnic minority groups lived in households with enough savings for a single month.
According to his Commons paper, the complex picture emerged from the pandemic, as white people were furloughed in slightly higher numbers than minority ethnic people by July 2020.
This left minority groups losing 9.1% more in their pay-packets than their white counterparts.
“We know the Chancellor likes nice new glossy things," Mr Kasumu said.
"But sometimes the right thing to do is not finding a nice new glossy solution but to simply admit there are certain things he got wrong. But that takes a big boy.”
He fears officials in No10 will neglect vulnerable communities like ethnic minorities in this crisis because "they do not understand different communities, they haven't lived through financial hardship".
Lashing out at the Chancellor, Mr Kasumu questioned why Mr Sunak blamed not being able to raise benefits on old technology.
"How can you tell me in the 21st century, in the fifth largest economy in the world, you’re going to make people suffer because of an IT problem. His excuse is junk. It’s nonsense. It’s rubbish," Mr Kasumu insisted.
He believes the Chancellor could and should find a civil servant who will be willing and able to enable benefits to be raised in line with inflation.
The PM and Chancellor are set to meet next week to discuss a cost-of-living rescue package.
Jacob Rees-Mogg set out fresh opposition from within the Cabinet as he argued it is wrong to raid the “honey pot of business”.
But Mr Kasumu added: "This is now more than ever the time for the government to step up.
"This is now more than ever the time for the Conservatives to show that they can also be compassionate.
"I feel very deeply about that."
Labour has argued a windfall tax could fund a VAT cut on energy bills and an increase in the warm home discount for those on a low income.
