A top trade unionist has predicted mass non-payment of energy bills and civil unrest not seen since the days of the poll tax.
GMB general secretary Gary Smith also said a national strike in protest over low pay and falling living standards could be justified.
He blasted: “This is an absolute tinderbox.”
Smith also accused the Scottish Government of being “utterly incompetent” over the council bin worker strike.
The Edinburgh-born trade unionist spoke out on so-called ‘Black Friday’ - when Ofgem will today confirm annual energy bills of around £4,000.
The sky-rocketing costs, coupled with soaring inflation, have already triggered waves of strike action and will plunge millions into poverty.
Smith said people will simply not pay their energy bills: “They are fighting to keep their heads above water, fighting to keep a roof over their head. The level of anger and frustration is just something that’s extraordinary.
“The Tories will be forced to do something over energy bills because otherwise they’re going to face mass civil unrest, a mass campaign of non-payment and an absolute economic calamity as businesses and industries go to the wall.
“Whether it is an organised campaign or not, there is just going to be mass non-payment because people cannot afford to pay the bills.”
“The energy companies are going to be in a real bind, because they’re not going to be able to go around switching people’s energy off, given where they are in terms of profitability.”
On whether he would support a non-payment campaign, he said: “What we would have to do is take opinions from energy workers. We’re not going to support stuff that jeopardises energy workers’ jobs.
“There are people in politics who have been playing fast and loose with gas workers and nuclear workers’ jobs for a long time, telling them they’re going to get these new jobs in industries that have actually never emerged.”
Smith, who played a leading role in the anti-poll tax campaign in Edinburgh, said of the current crisis: “We are facing a rerun of the poll tax - it will bring people on to the streets. If the Tories don’t address it, this will be Liz Truss’ poll tax moment.”
He continued: “What’s happening with energy bills is far more explosive than the poll tax.
“It’s going to impact industry as well as households. People are going to be losing their jobs and facing bills that they can’t pay.”
Asked about coordinated strikes on a national basis by the trade unions, he said: There is a time where that could happen and it could be justified.”
He added: “The timing is everything in these things. A national strike linked to national demonstrations over the cost of living or the energy crisis - that’s how I could see this manifesting.”
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