The rising rate of inflation, which has now reached 10.1% according to the Office for National Statistics, is leaving people with nowhere to turn in the absence of an Executive or intervention from Westminster, SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP has warned.

The Foyle MP said that working families across Northern Ireland had been abandoned by political leaders at Stormont and in Whitehall who have given in to the DUP's reckless strategy and given up on their responsibility to help those impacted the most by this crisis.

Colum Eastwood MP said: "Double digit inflation is a legitimately terrifying prospect for families across Northern Ireland already struggling to make ends meet. Most worryingly, the latest rise in prices is being driven by the cost of essential items like food meaning that there will be no shelter for anyone from soaring household costs.

"The truth is that in the middle of the most severe food and fuel price crisis in memory, people in communities across the North have been abandoned by political leaders at Stormont and in Whitehall. Ministers here and in London appear to have given in to the DUP's abdication of responsibility but worse, by all accounts they've given up on hard working people struggling to keep their heads above water.

"While a bureaucratic tug of war about how to get the £400 energy support payment continues between Belfast and London, most people know that support at such a low level won't even scratch the surface of this crisis. Ministers need to listen and act now – convene an emergency taskforce with officials and the community sector to design urgent support schemes. They should make at-risk allocations to get emergency funding to households that are on the brink. This is not rocket science – we have just been through a public health emergency where governments took extraordinary action, we need that same sense of urgency now."