East Belfast Ulster Unionist Party MLA and Communities spokesperson Andy Allen MBE has written to the Prime Minister pressing for support for households struggling with the persistently high cost of living.

Mr Allen said:

“Over the past number of weeks, there has been a focus on whether Northern Ireland would have a devolved Government taking decisions on behalf of the people here. As is now evident, the prospect of this is remote at best, meanwhile households continue to struggle with the persistently high cost of living – particularly the high cost of energy. Daily my constituency office team and I work with many across the community in desperate need of support, which is becoming more and more limited in its availability.

“As temperatures have plummeted, households are struggling with the cost of heating their homes, which was challenging under normal circumstances. However, it is not helped by the fact energy costs remain higher that what they were a couple of years ago. This coupled with the much higher cost of food is stretching household budgets resulting in many going without or rationing their energy.

“Whilst a devolved Government would be limited in what it can bring forward, it could nonetheless provide some support, however, in the continued absence of a functioning Executive, there is even more onus on the United Kingdom Government to step forward and help. I have therefore written to the Prime Minister urging him to reintroduce the energy price guarantee, a previous measure taken by the Government to reduce energy bills, or a similar measure to support households in need.”