Glasgow council leader calls on Liz Truss to take action on cost of living crisis

Cllr Aitken is among 11 leaders, including Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and the mayors of Liverpool and Bristol, to have made the plea to Liz Truss, after she became the new Prime Minister.

In a joint statement published, the political leaders warned that ‘the local and combined authorities we represent up and down the UK are preparing to meet with a tidal wave of need this winter.’

They highlight the vital support that local and combined authorities are providing to their communities across the UK, but warn, ‘we cannot do this alone.’

The intervention adds to the huge pressure facing new Prime Minister Liz Truss to announce extra support to help people with the cost of living, after Ofgem announced a new energy price cap of £3549 from October.

All the political leaders involved represent local and combined authorities that are members of the Inclusive Growth Network, a joint initiative to deliver local economic approaches which spread opportunity and prosperity more equally within and across local economies.

The statement highlights the group’s shared focus not only on immediate responses to the crisis but ‘on using the policy, investment and convening powers at our disposal to strengthen our local economies for the long term.’

It urges the UK government to do the same and ensure that in the long term, the benefits of economic growth are shared more equally between people and places.

The statement warns that ‘we know from experience that making sure that economic growth is inclusive is the only way the levelling up agenda, on which this government was elected, can withstand the political and economic turbulence ahead’.