What is the Enough is Enough campaign? How union bosses and MPs plan on tackling the cost of living crisis

A new campaign, called Enough is Enough, has been launched by trade unions, community organisations and MPs in an attempt to tackle the cost of living crisis.

It comes as many households struggle to make ends meet due to rapidly rising inflation and soaring energy bills.

The campaign group intends to pressure the Government and businesses into achieving goals such as increasing workers’ pay and subsidising energy costs.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

The campaign is supported by several unions, democratic socialist political magazine Tribune, the Right to Food Campaign, Fans Supporting Foodbanks, and Labour MPs Zarah Sultana and Ian Byrne.

Its website says it plans 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 lists five key goals:

Other calls to action include ending food poverty by introducing universal free school meals, community kitchens, and reinstating the £20-a-week universal credit uplift.

They also want rent caps and a government commitment to build more than 100,000 public and council houses a year to ensure decent homes for all.

Enough is enough. It's time to turn anger into action.

Join the campaign to fight the cost-of-living crisis.https://t.co/1SeHcIXdMr pic.twitter.com/sVFpFpXMe1

Tens of thousands of people have already signed up to the campaign, which is set to organise protests in the coming weeks.

“If you’re struggling to get by and your wages don’t cover the bills, if you’re fed up working harder for less and you’re worried about the future, or if you just can’t stand to see what’s happening to our country – join us,” the group says.

“Enough is enough. It’s time to turn anger into action.”

In the launch video, Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch says: “People are fed up with the way they are treated at work, we need to turn that mood into real organisation on behalf of the working class.

“We can’t be divided. We need everybody campaigning for a better deal.”

Ms Sultana adds there are billionaires are pocketing record profits whilst households “suffer”, saying: “It’s all about one political choice – your need or their greed. It’s time to channel anger into action.”

Fans Supporting Foodbanks organiser, Dave Kelly, said: “After a decade of austerity and with the cost of living crisis biting ever deeper, working-class communities face the worst humanitarian crisis in our lifetime.

“With record levels of fuel and utility charges – and food prices rocketing – we know that Britain isn’t eating. The time is now to stand as one.”

You can sign up to the campaign via its website. Once registered, you will receive tailored information on events, rallies and picket lines in your local area.

High oil and gas prices are one of main reasons for soaring inflation, as this has led to very high energy prices, and also significantly pushed up the price of fuel.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of oil crashed as the world shut down and demand dropped – in April 2020 oil recorded negative prices for the first time in history.

When global economies began to recover, the price shot up as demand rose sharply. But suppliers who had slashed production during the pandemic have struggled to scale back up to meet demand, pushing up prices.

The problem has been significantly exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia is one of the world’s largest crude oil exporters, second only to Saudi Arabia.

Russian imports account for just 8 per cent of total UK oil demand, and the Government says it will phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year.

However, the EU is more reliant on Russian oil, and imports 27 per cent of its oil from Russia.

EU leaders have agreed to ban most Russian oil imports by the end of the year, and the US has also announced a total ban. This has caused demand for oil from other suppliers to rocket, resulting in higher prices, including for countries that did not originally source their oil from Russia.

The cost of used cars has also risen and is contributing to inflation, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says.

Other factors include rising food prices, with the war in Ukraine squeezing grain production, as well as the costs of raw materials, household goods, furniture and restaurants going up.

Wages are not increasing at the same rate, meaning household wallets are not stretching as far.