‘People are already at breaking point’: Islington Council declares cost-of-living emergency

Cllr Saiqa Pandor puts forward the motion. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Politicians have declared a cost-of-living emergency in Islington – with people in need of immediate help.

The declaration followed a unanimous agreement at Islington’s full council meeting after new councillor Saiqa Pandor, who proposed the motion, said the crisis is “not necessary in the fifth wealthiest nation in the world”.

More than 11,500 local families are living in fuel poverty, and 27,400 people are receiving housing benefit or council tax support, according to Town Hall figures.

Cllr Pandor blamed the crisis on the government and said the council will help residents with a range of measures focusing on wages, the living wage and business.

The motion won backing from the Green opposition, whose leader Caroline Russell said: “Islington residents have borne the brunt of the government’s enthusiasm for austerity.”

She said there were “a hundred different ways to serve up austerity, misery and suffering” and said “people need help and they need help now”.

Declaring an emergency does not attract any extra government funding.

Council leader, Labour’s Kaya Comer-Schwartz, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is already having a real impact for thousands of our most vulnerable residents, our poorest households, the elderly, and the disabled.

“Many are already at breaking point and fearful for what the future holds.”

She said there “is only so much the council can do” and it wanted the declaration “to show we’re committed to stepping up where the government has not.”

The council is urging Whitehall to match the national minimum wage, currently £9.18, to the real living wage, which is now £11.95 in London and £10.90 elsewhere, and to boost Universal Credit in line with inflation and provide free school meals for all children.

Islington offers free school meals for all primary school children.

Other steps the Town Hall is calling for include rent controls and support for skilled green jobs.

It also wants the energy price cap frozen at £1,971, rather than the £2,500 cap announced by Prime Minister Liz Truss, and more business rate relief for small firms.

The council is taking steps to trim its own costs after its heating bills soared by £30m over the last year.

It recently announced that it is cutting the hours of communal heating at 57 buildings from 18 hours to 13 hours a day, which affects the energy bills of 12 per cent of its tenants and leaseholders.

Other measures include cutting council tax bills for 19,000 low-income families, a £2.6m cost-of-living support scheme, and using £17m to “effectively cancel” business rate bills this year for nearly 4,000 smaller businesses.