It may seem a little odd, but then again forward planning for the winter during the boiling hot summer we’ve had is actually commendable.

That’s why I and fellow residents were glad to hear of Labour’s plans to deal with the cost of living crisis on a muggy Monday this week. Our bills, be it shopping, gas electricity and water are soaring. Nobody is immune. Mortgages and rents are increasing too now that interest rates are on the up and up again.

Apparently, there is a government, although you’d be hard pushed to know it. The Prime Minister is demob-happy and basking in his second foreign holiday in as many weeks.

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The ‘zombie government’ drifts as aimlessly as the Mary Celeste. There’s nobody at the helm, the crew have mutinied and the rats fight in a sack to see who gets the top job next. But of course. Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

In the real world that the rest of us inhabit the family finances, already under pressure face the prospect of worse to come - £5,000 energy bills.

Labour’s plans would stop the energy price cap rising and those extortionate bills landing on doormats.

Our Warm Homes Plans would see many homes in Watford insulated and that gets the bills down for good.

Labour would get Britain off expensive foreign gas by investing more in home grown and cleaner energy such as solar, wind, hydrogen and nuclear power.

All of this is doable. After 12 years of the clapped-out Tories, it is time for a fresh start with Labour – a government in waiting.

  • Cllr Matt Turmaine is Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Watford