Britain's main opposition Labour Party will call for the energy price cap to be frozen this autumn, a party source said, to help the public deal with another expected surge in energy bills during the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

Stood on her hind legs to greet any prospective owner who might approach her glass-doored kennel, Harriet is a black English cocker spaniel abandoned as a deepening cost-of-living crisis pushes growing numbers of Britons to part with their pets.