Martin Lewis has publicly requested the next prime minister to go on ITV and discuss the pressing cost of living crisis.
The financial journalist, known as the Money Saving Expert, has repeatedly expressed his growing fears about what winter will look like for millions across the UK amid soaring energy bills, inflation at a 40-year-high and a looming recession.
Liz Truss, the current foreign secretary, is the frontrunner in the race to replace Boris Johnson right now.
She pulled out of a BBC interview earlier this week, claiming she did not have time to do it, but has remained tight-lipped over just how she would tackle the cost of living crisis.
So on Wednesday, Lewis tweeted: “Dear @trussliz/ @RishiSunak the cost of living crisis has left millions worried how they’ll make ends meet.
“I’d like to formally invite you, as the new PM, to join me asap once you take office for a special hour’s @itvMLshow discussion/Q&A to answer/ease people’s concerns.
″ITV is happy to support this, so together will also extend the invite through official channels to both of you now for speed.
“The preference is live in the evening, but we understand the time pressures and are happy to work on scheduling with you to make this work.”
His tweet received more than 18,000 likes and more than 24,000 retweets in less than two hours.
At the time of writing, neither Truss nor Sunak had publicly responded to the request.
Both Sunak and Truss have been criticised for avoiding discussing the current crisis much, despite the energy price cap set to increase to £3,549 for the average household come October 1.
Instead, Truss has made headlines for questioning whether French president Emmanuel Macron is “friend or foe”, calling Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon an “attention-seeker” and U-turning over a policy to introduce regional pay.
Her team have refused to share her plan on how to stop millions falling into fuel poverty, beyond saying she would lean on an emergency budget, claiming that she will reveal all if she makes it into No.10.
Sunak, the former chancellor, has also not come up with much of a plan. He has acknowledged that the current measures to ease the cost of living (which he introduced back in May) are no longer enough, and has hinted that he would cut bills for poorer households.
The Conservative Party are set to elect the next prime minister next week.
Throughout the entire leadership contest, the cost of living crisis has been worsening. Outgoing prime minister Johnson has faced intense criticism for going on two holidays during this time, and refusing to make any significant decisions while in his “caretaker” role.
Lewis has been one of the loudest voices hitting out at the government over its inaction.
Last Friday, he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “I’ve been accused of catastrophising over this situation. Well, the reason I have catastrophised is this is a catastrophe, plain and simple – unaffordable.
“Let’s just amplify what the boss of Ofgem said earlier, he effectively said in the polite way that a regulator does ‘this is out of our hands, it is beyond our power, we need government intervention’. And we do.
“If we do not get further government intervention - on top of what was announced in May - then lives will be lost this winter by too many people to think about because of these unaffordable, terrible rise in energy bills.”