Gordon Brown calls for an emergency budget to stop a “financial time bomb.”

• Gordon Brown wants an emergency budget before the UK hits a “financial timebomb” this fall.
• 35 million people in 13 million homes across the UK are at risk of fuel poverty in October.
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• Mr. Brown said that this was the first time that 49.6% of the people in the UK had ever done this.

Gordon Brown, a former Labour prime minister, wants an emergency budget before the UK hits a “financial timebomb” this fall.

Mr. Brown said that if the government doesn’t do something about the cost of living crisis, millions of people will be “pushed over the edge.”

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, who are both running to be the next Conservative leader, have fought over how they will deal with high inflation.

He wants them to agree with PM Boris Johnson on an emergency budget this week, or else he wants parliament to be called back.

In an article for the Observer, Mr. Brown said, “The grim reality is undeniable: a financial time bomb will go off for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shock waves through every household and pushes millions over the edge.”

Professor Donald Hirsch from Loughborough University, who was hired by Mr. Brown to do a new report, found that 35 million people in 13 million homes across the UK are at risk of fuel poverty in October.

Mr. Brown said that this was the first time that 49.6% of the people in the UK had ever done this.

Findings from the report show that the extra one-time help of £1,200 for low-income households won’t be enough to make up for three big drops in income between October 2021 and October 2022.

The loss of the weekly benefits increase of £20, the rise in the energy price cap, and an annual increase that doesn’t keep up with inflation predictions will all make it hard for the poorest families to make up the difference.

Mr. Brown said on BBC Radio 4’s “World at One” that the benefits system and the computers that run it need to be fixed quickly so that people can get help before October.

He said that there is a hole at the top of the government because both Boris Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi are on vacation.