A North East mum has urged the new Prime Minister to ensure thousands of working-class people do not "bear the brunt" of the "difficult decisions" he has to make.

Rishi Sunak pledged to fix the "mistakes" of Liz Truss's leadership during his first speech after meeting with the King on Tuesday.

The new PM, who is also the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire, made the comments as he touched on the cost of living crisis.

Read more: North East food bank boss invites Rishi Sunak to visit - and do a shift too

Warning that the country is facing a profound economic crisis, he warned that difficult decisions would have to come.

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But last night, those comments did little to assure some of the North East's struggling homeowners and tenants as energy and grocery bills soar.

One woman, who previously said she had been forced to cut down on her meals and scrap her heating, again warned people had "nothing left to cut."

Read more: Woman's fury and dismay as energy firm hikes bill by £66 a month overnight

In a message to the new PM, Anne Hall, 65, said: "I just have no idea, I think the whole thing is a shambles and the country is a mess.

"The two main things Rishi needs to sort out are the energy bills and the cost of living, but can it even be fixed?"

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The mum-of-two, from Sunderland, has been faced with huge energy bills, which she says has been helped by the Government's £67 a month grant.

However, she has said this will only last so long and has warned the new PM that grocery bills are rising by the week - with no signs of stopping.

She said: "Well everything is going up, food costs more, there's an increase every week. Things are going up not just by the one and two pence but by 20 and 30p.

"They can't keep blaming the war in Ukraine, we used to be a self-sufficient country, we had our own farms and that's all gone.

"It will be the working class bearing the brunt of those 'difficult decisions,' the working class - and we can't."

Her comments came as charities and food banks across the North East have invited Rishi Sunak to pay a visit.

The White Feather Project urged the PM to spend an afternoon delivering food packages with the charity. 

The new PM has faced calls from MPs from his own party to pledge to tackle the cost of living crisis as homeowners and tenants are hit.

Conservative Bishop Auckland MP, Dehenna Davison tweeted: "Well done to Rishi Sunak on becoming the new PM. He's got a mammoth task ahead.

"The country faces huge challenges and people are counting on us to deliver, so we need to get behind Rishi now."

Although he did not reveal an exact plan, the PM yesterday said during his speech: “I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda.

“This will mean difficult decisions to come. But you saw me during Covid doing everything I could to protect people and businesses with schemes like furlough.

“There are always limits, more so now than ever. But I promise you this, I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today.

“The government I lead will not leave the next generation, your children and grandchildren, with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves."

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