'Enough is Enough' rally held in Manchester as cost of living crisis continues

Thousands of people have turned out for a rally in Manchester over the soaring cost of living.

The event, at Manchester Cathedral, was attended by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, alongside representatives from the RMT Union and the Communications Union.

It has been organised by the Enough is Enough campaign, a group set up by trade unions, MPs and activists.

The group says it is "determined to push back against the misery forced on millions by rising bills, low wages, food poverty, shoddy housing – and a society run only for a wealthy elite."

The campaign staged a march in Liverpool on 20 August, with around 1,000 people turning out to show their support.

The Merseyside Labour MP Ian Byrne, a committee member said: "With rising energy prices and wages not keeping up, millions – probably tens of millions – more people face being pushed over the edge and into the abyss.

“We are going to see poverty in Britain like we haven’t seen in generations. We want energy bills capped, wages to rise, food poverty and dire housing tackled."

Ministers have indicated that a range of possible cost-of-living support packages are being prepared for the Boris Johnson's success as Prime Minister.

One pub owner at Macclesfield in Cheshire says her electricity bills have risen fivefold.

Gill Leigh-Ford, of Ye Olde Admiral Rodney, said: "In the past we were paying around £500 - £600 pounds a month electricity, £150 - £200 gas.

"But last month's electric was £2,500 and the gas was £450 and that's without putting any gas fires on."

"It's tough, especially after the pandemic when we are just beginning to recover and now we've got this other hurdle to cross," added Gill.

"The only thing we can do is pass the price on to the customer which we don't want to do because they are a loyal bunch and also they've got their own domestic increases too.

"Or we just have a cold pub which we don't want to do. We could go back to candle-light, it is a 1730 pub.

"I just want the government to cap the prices, at least put a levy on them, because we can't carry out like this, not knowing how much the increases are going to be."

The Metro Mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who attended the Manchester rally, told ITV's Good Morning Britain that people are scared by the scale of the crisis.

"People are scared and that's the only way to put it. We've never seen anything like this, on the scale of this crisis", said Mr Burnham.

"And what've got at the moment is politics not having risen to that challenge."

"We need quite bit change here. It's always the pay of people at the bottom is said to be unaffordable or inflationary, never the people at the top.

"What we've seen over recent years is the gap between the bottom and the top get bigger and bigger and bigger."

The public will are likely to have to wait until next week to find out what help they will get with skyrocketing energy bills when the new Prime Minister is expected be announced.

The Enough is Enough rally will take place in Liverpool on 2 September.

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