Rylan Clark has blasted the government over the energy price cap rise, branding their inaction “disgusting” during a segment on This Morning.
The presenter spoke for many viewers of Friday’s edition of the ITV daytime show when he questioned why the public is having to wait until the new Tory leader has been appointed before more help is given to those struggling to pay their energy bills.
On Friday, Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, announced that the energy price cap will soar to a devastating £3,549 in October, meaning the average bill will be hiked by more than 80 per cent in the autumn.
As Rylan and co-host Ruth Langsford discussed this news with Money Saving Expert’s Martin Lewis on This Morning, the Strictly: It Takes Two presenter questioned why the government is not placing taxes on energy companies, who are currently recording record profits.
He said: “Why aren’t the government – and I understand at the minute we’ve got a non-acting prime minister with what’s going on… why aren’t we attacking that umbrella group? Why are we not sitting there and going [to] the government, ’Excuse me, yous are earning all these profits and we’ve got pensioners basically left for dead in their homes because they can’t afford to heat it.′
“It’s ridiculous, just absolutely ridiculous.”
Martin noted a semi windfall tax “that they won’t call a windfall tax, that is a windfall tax” on non-invested profits, but said the UK had been slower to act on the energy crisis than other European countries.
As the segment wrapped up, Rylan said he hoped to welcome Martin back to the show to discuss Downing Street’s plan to help consumers once either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss succeeds Boris Johnson as prime minister on 5 September.
“I know, but it’s amazing we have to wait until September, isn’t it?” Ruth said.
“It’s disgusting,” Rylan said.
Referring to how Martin is now running out of advice on how to save money amid the soaring costs, Ruth said: “Seriously, when Martin Lewis goes [shrugs], what do you do?”
“That’s it, we’re done,” Rylan agreed. “What can you do? Sorry guys, we wanted to bring you good news, but how can we when this is actually happening? It just doesn’t seem real and every day it’s getting worse.”
After looking on social media during the break, Rylan hit back at some commenters who questioned how the price cap rise would impact him.
He said: “You get a lot of people saying, ‘What do you know? You’ve got money, you’re a TV presenter.’ I’l just be honest with you – I’ve got a mum, I’ve also got a brother, I’ve got family, yeah? I’m very lucky that I do my job and I’ve been working in this industry for 10 years now and I’ve been very clever with my money, but this is affecting everyone. This is going to affect every single person we know. It’s all relative and we’re going to ask those questions.
“I just think it’s absolutely disgusting what is going on at the moment, I really, really do.”
Rylan and Ruth then discussed Sunak and Truss’ different approaches in their pledges to tackle the energy crisis during their Tory leadership campaigns with commentators Matthew Wright and Sam McAllister.
Rylan added: “My issue with this is that this isn’t about politics. It isn’t Tories vs Labour… this is not about choosing, ‘do we look after the vulnerable and the elderly, or do we look after someone who’s 20 and can’t afford their heating bill?’. Why do we have to pick and choose?… Let’s work together for once.”
His comments echoed those he made on The Last Leg last month, where he called on MPs to “run the country right, look after people in this country and stop being a fucking arsehole” amid in-fighting in the Tory party.
Rylan has regularly shared his take on politics on social media and also hosted Channel 4′s coverage of the last general election.
He has previously hit back at “snobby-arsed” critics of his political commentary explaining why he feels “no pressure to fit in a box others want to put (him) in” and why people have been wrong to dismiss him.