Analysis: Britain is plunging deeper into crisis by the day, but its government is missing in action

The sense of collapse is only mounting; health leaders on Friday issued the grim warning of a “humanitarian crisis” without action to stop energy prices increasing over the winter. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the National Health Service Confederation, said in a statement that many “could face the awful choice between skipping meals to heat their homes and having to live in in cold, damp and very unpleasant conditions … These outbreaks will strike just as the NHS is likely to experience the most difficult winter on record.”The highly unusual intervention comes after weeks of warnings that the UK is at only the start of the worst cost-of-living crisis for generations. Inflation passed 10% earlier this week, placing a greater strain on households who are already struggling to make ends meet. The country is on track to enter recession, with GDP expected to continue shrinking through the end of the year and beyond.On top of the economic pain, transport and dock workers are striking, and there are warnings of further industrial action across the public and private sector. Even some lawyers in criminal cases have gone on strike, causing disruption in the already clogged courts.She added that next week, the UK’s energy regulator will “announce the rise of the energy price cap. Against the backdrop of a rise in inflation to 10.1%, this won’t just send households into a further spiral of worry, pushing them to cut back even further ahead of the winter. But it will create another shock for our economy. With businesses and households on the brink, we cannot wait to act.” The energy price cap is a government-implemented backstop to stop energy companies from overcharging customers. CNN approached Downing Street and multiple government officials for comment on the proposal, but at the time of publication had not received an on-record response. Given the severity of what is about to happen to the country, even former Johnson allies and dyed-in-the-wool Conservatives cannot fathom why the party in power seems happy to coast. Neither leadership candidate has given concrete examples of what specific policies will be implemented in order to cope with what is going to be a hellish winter for many. A cynic might say it is because any solution will require vast sums of public spending, anathema to traditional Conservative members who will pick the next PM. It could also be because public spending on such a scale cannot be explained in the same breath as pledges of immediate tax cuts and a refusal to increase tax on big business, including energy companies, to fund a way through the crisis. However, it won’t be long before Johnson’s successor has to answer to a wider group of critics. First, their political opponents in Parliament. Then, the wider public at the ballot box. Inaction as dire warnings come weekly could be a terminal error that costs the Conservatives the next general election. And after over a decade in power, it would be a tall ask for the public to forgive them for sleepwalking into a crisis.