AN MP has warned that more suicidal people have come through her door in the last two weeks than a typical year sparked by the cost-of-living crisis.

Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, has warned that those already under pressure are being most impacted by the energy prices hike.

Speaking at an SNP conference fringe event hosted by Advice Direct Scotland, Ms Blackman set out the human scale of the cost-of-living crisis.

She said: “It is the case that those people who are already struggling are going to be hit the hardest by what is happening.

“We are seeing in my office, more suicidal people contacting my office in the space of a fortnight than we’ve had in whole years in the past.

“It is that level of difficulty.”

SNP Treasury spokesperson at Westminster, Alison Thewliss criticised the UK Government for having “taken too long” to bring forward support.

She said: “This has come much, much too late.

“They allowed the prices to rise just the other week. They could have stopped that increase and they didn’t. It was predictable about how this was going to go.”

Ms Thewliss told the event that then-chancellor Rishi Sunak was not aware of how a pre-payment meter works.

She said: “It just really worries me that they don’t understand how people are living, the difficulties that so many of my constituents are in because they are just so very far away from that.

“They’ve never had a pre-payment meter, they’ve never had their electricity run out and that’s the gap at the moment.

“The support is too late, it’s not comprehensive enough and I’m worried that it’s not going to reach everybody.”

Ms Blackman, who is also the SNP’s work and pensions spokesperson at Westminster, hit out at Tory ministers for not raising benefits payments in line with inflation.

The UK Government has failed to confirm the payments will be hiked in line with soaring levels of inflation, amid suggestions they could rise in line with earnings instead.

Ms Blackman said: “Universal Credit is already not enough.

“The UK Government are now talking about not uprating that in line with inflation. Actually, benefits will go further and further behind.

“I’m massively concerned about single people who are already in an absolutely destitute situation.”