Gordon Brown is right – Britain needs an emergency Budget

Editorial: The UK government cannot control global energy or food prices. But it can and must protect its most vulnerable citizens from external shocks of this magnitude

This is a truly defining moment in British politics (Getty)

The task of all governments of whatever political hue is to protect their most vulnerable citizens from hardship. The UK managed reasonably well to do so when the pandemic struck in 2020. It has made a start on trying to do so again when the current surge in inflation took off earlier this year. But it now needs to do more, much more.

Specifically, there has to be emergency action to blunt the impact of the surge in energy prices that will gather pace through the autumn.

Gordon Brown, former chancellor and the prime minister who led the response to the financial crisis of 2008-9, has called for an emergency Budget to tackle this new crisis. It is a thoughtful and helpful intervention. He backs a report by Professor Donald Hirsch, of Loughborough University, which argues that the present measures taken by the government will not be sufficient to make up for the recent surge in living costs.