Poverty campaigner Jack Monroe has slammed energy firms recording profits while people are "struggling to heat their homes".

Monroe, from Southend, was invited on to Good Morning Britain this morning to discuss the soaring costs of energy bills after the news energy company Cenrica's profits increased.

Centrica, which owns British Gas, saw its half-year profits increase five-fold to £1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, Shell's adjusted earnings hit nearly 11.5 billion US dollars (£9.5 billion) for the second quarter of the year, compared with the less than 11 billion (£9 billion) that analysts had forecast.

The price of Shell's oil has risen from 62.53 (£51.59) dollars a barrel a year ago to more than 101 (£83.34) dollars today.

Its gas rose from 4.31 dollars (£3.56) to 13.85 dollars (£11.43) per thousand standard cubic feet over the same period.

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Reacting to Centrica’s statement on the morning show on the payment of dividends to shareholders, Monroe said: "Oh, only £59 million. Well, all the people who are struggling to heat their homes at the moment;

"The people who are suffering from respiratory distress and respiratory disorders because they’re living in cold damp homes.

"The people who are ticking timebombs for chronic illnesses ten years down the line, because they can’t afford to heat their homes and look after themselves properly because of rising costs of energy bills, probably aren’t going to be very impressed with those £59 million just being seen as a small amount, when actually the incremental cost of their energy bills is an absolute fraction of that, but is unaffordable to them."

This echoed a series of Tweets she wrote yesterday after being contacted by media outlets about the record profits.

She had said: "I’m being contacted by media outlets about the energy companies record profits and my stance on this is very clear.

"As with supermarkets, while a single one of their customers is forced into poverty by their racketeering prices, not a penny should be paid in shareholder bonuses."

She added: "Those record profits and bonuses are paid with the bodies of the working class, the disabled, the longterm sick, the single parents juggling multiple shit jobs to make ends just about meet.

"The rich are rich because the poor are funding them, and many are paying with their lives."