UK party leaders are urged to cancel conferences

The person who wins the race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the helm of the United Kingdom's government should cancel the looming four-week holiday lawmakers are set to get to attend party conferences, so the time can be used to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

The suggestion that either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak－the last two people in the leadership battle－abandon the party conference season was made by veteran campaigner Gina Miller, the founder of the True and Fair party, who said in an open letter it would be "immoral and insulting" to put the self-aggrandizement of conference season ahead of addressing the problem of rampant inflation, and of families facing unaffordable fuel bills.

She said party conferences, which all of the UK's main parties hold annually at this time of year, "do not serve the people or the public interest" and are largely insider events where people try to "buy influence and make cosy deals".

"As the candidates for prime minister, you should urgently speak to the leaders of other parties and agree conference recess will be cancelled, so MPs can work on the immediate challenges facing the country," she wrote.

The House of Commons is due to close in mid-September, days after the winner of the leadership battle is unveiled on Sept 6.

Party conference season is then slated to start with the Liberal Democrats gathering, from Sept 17 to Sept 20. The Labour Party is then due to convene, between Sept 25 and 28. The Conservatives will then gather, between Oct 2 and Oct 5. And the Scottish National Party conference is set for Oct 8 to Oct 10.

Parliamentary business is then due to resume on Oct 17.

The lengthy recess follows an entire summer during which the government decided not to make big decisions because of the leadership fight.

"You should be spending your time working for the people of the UK who elect and pay for you, not your party's members," Miller wrote in the open letter.

The Guardian newspaper said neither Truss nor Sunak had responded to Miller's letter.

The UK's cost-of-living crisis was largely triggered by the global rise in energy prices attributed in large part to the disruption of supply caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

With household energy bills quadrupling in the UK during the past year, and inflation predicted to pass 18 percent during the first quarter of 2023, many ordinary Britons have expressed fear about the future.

Several unions have also called for strikes in search of pay rises that keep up with inflation.

The nation's two largest trade unions, Unite and Unison, said on Monday they want to work together, to ensure there is coordinated industrial action this fall.

Recent strikes in the UK have involved rail workers, barristers, postal staff, and rubbish collectors.