People will have to go without food and be unable to heat their homes by October if the government doesn’t take urgent action on the cost of living crisis, Gordon Brown has warned.

Speaking to Sky News, the former Labour prime minister took aim at the Conservatives as he demanded further interventions and branded the party’s windfall tax as “stupid”.

He claimed the opt-outs included in the tax brought forward when Rishi Sunak was chancellor reduced the value of the tax from £15bn to £5bn.

He set out his own vision for dealing with the cost of living crisis, including changing the windfall tax, a cap on energy bills and reforming the benefits system.

But he ruled out his own return to frontline politics, telling Sky News: “When you’re out, you’re out.”

Mr Brown said he is campaigning heavily on the cost of living crisis because he is seeing poverty in his hometown, Fife, “that I did not expect to see ever again in my lifetime”.

He added: “There’s no doubt that people are going to go without food, and they’re going to go hungry and cold in October if we don’t take action now.”

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Asked what he would do if he were in Downing Street right now he said the first thing he would do is call an emergency COBRA meeting with the leadership candidates.

He added: “I would be talking about changes in the Universal Credit system to give people the money that is necessary. And I would be talking about potentially capping energy bills and that would have the effect of getting inflation down, as well as, of course, of helping people in the greatest need.

“None of these things seem to be being discussed at the moment in the way they should be. And it really is not good enough for leadership candidates to go around the country and say ‘I’ll have a plan next month, the month after.’ This is the crisis. It’s got to be addressed now.”

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