East Ayrshire Council bosses insist they are at the frontline when it comes to tackling a cost of living crisis.

Over the last fortnight, there has been significant criticism of the UK Government over a lack of action to address rising energy prices.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been slammed for refusing to take action, after he insisted that it would be down to either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss to announce any moves after one is selected to lead the country on September.

East Ayrshire Council depute chief executive Katie Kelly outlined the concerns of the council and some of the progress being made.

Ms Kelly said: “We are concerned about rising energy costs coupled with rising food and fuel bills. The communities we serve are facing a very real cost of living crisis that will intensify over the winter months.

“At a local level, the council is working with partners including the East Ayrshire Health and social care partnership, to coordinate a campaign to ensure that our communities know how to access all of the available supports both locally and nationally.

“This worked extremely well during the pandemic and is so important that we continue to work alongside our local communities and businesses to support each other during these challenging times.

“In addition, we are seeing reports that local businesses are also affected by the rising energy prices and the council will ensure that support is provided to local businesses through our economic development team and that they are signposted to other national supports, as they become available.

“This is a national crisis, the likes of which none of us have faced before.”

Last week First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chaired the Scottish Government Resilience Committee to discuss the crisis.