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Caerphilly County Borough Council’s new leader has hit out at the UK Government’s handling of the cost of living crisis – and insisted the council is ready to step up to the challenge.

Labour councillor Sean Morgan, who was appointed council leader last week, said the council has to do as much as it can to help people struggling with rising costs.

Cllr Morgan said there has been an increase in foodbank usage in the borough and insisted the crisis is “certainly something the council will have to grapple with”.

Currently, inflation stands at 9% according to the Bank of England – with that figure expected to rise to 10% by October.

Inflation is the price of something increasing over time.  The high inflation rate means the cost of essential items such as food, fuel and energy have increased – resulting in the cost of living crisis.

Cllr Morgan said: “I certainly feel it’s been imposed by political decisions taken by central government.

“There are are lots of reasons behind the cost of living crisis – the choice to cut benefits, increasing national insurance, while at the same time refusing to put windfall taxes on companies.

“The result of the cost of living crisis is that we have got people in the borough experiencing the choice between heat or eat.

He added: “With the incoming energy price increases in October, we are already seeing significant uptake in use of food banks.

“The council is going to react to help families. We have got families where mam and dad are working but are still struggling to meet the cost of living.”

Cllr Morgan, who represents the Nelson ward, praised the council’s response to Covid, particularly its free school meals scheme – which saw more than two million meals delivered to children across the borough throughout the pandemic.

He said the pandemic response showed the council is capable of dealing with the current crisis.

He praised the “almighty effort” to keep the council running while staff were forced to work from home and said: “If we can rise to that challenge, can we rise to help feed people who are going hungry? Yes we can.”

Councillor Jamie Pritchard, who is the council’s Deputy Leader, added: “The free school meals has been a humungous effort – it shows if the crisis is there, we react. People look to this council for leadership.”