The rising cost of living is beginning to bite.

Of greatest concern are rising fuel bills, inflation and the National Insurance (NI) increase.

The unprecedented cost of coping with the pandemic, and safeguarding millions of jobs, have driven a coach and horses through the Government’s finances, squeezing household budgets.

To make matters worse, inflation is rising, partly due to the economy making a welcome and powerful recovery.

Lower taxes would help, for not only do they raise more money for the Treasury, but leave you with more disposable income.

This planned NI rise makes no sense, and I have said so, repeatedly, along with many other colleagues like Sir John Redwood.

It’s disappointing that our view is being ignored, especially with taxes already at a 70-year high.

However, at the time of writing, measures to help households are to be announced shortly.

Meanwhile, organisations like Citizens’ Advice Bureau are warning that domestic bills could jump by £700 a year when the energy price cap is removed.

It’s our failure over many years to invest in our own energy supply that finds us relying on imports, and increasingly now on renewables, the subsidies for which end up on our bills.

At some point in the future, Sizewell C, Hinkley Point and new, modular reactors from Rolls Royce will provide clean, reliable, nuclear power, but until then we are at the mercy of the markets.

It’s sobering that it takes this huge demand for gas post pandemic, and the very real threat of a war in Europe, to remind us how important energy security is.

It’s also, perhaps, ironic that we need to fall back on our old and condemned coal-fired power stations to keep the lights on.