I'm sittng in a freezing-cold flat with my duvet around me to keep warm because the temperature outside has dropped.

My heating is broken but I haven't got it repaired because I can't afford to put it on anyway.

As I am not a pensioner, I don't qualify for cold-weather payments. Yet I still get extortionate electricity bills. When I complained to the regulator, Energywatch, it told me the bills were correct.

People freeze while lining the pockets of rich shareholders - so much for the regulator protecting the public. Profit is all Energywatch and the utility companies care about.

This is the brave new world New Labour has given us.

I was on benefits but a person can't survive on them, so I signed off and got a job. But few jobs pay enough to even cover rent and (the criminal) Council Tax and utility bills.

I found a job which paid £500 per week and, most weeks, I received it.

It sounds a lot but I had to work up to 70 hours per week for it. I then had to pay back £455, meaning I was working 70 hours per week for £50 - and sometimes nothing at all.

And this was before paying tax and National Insurance. What I was left with wasn't even enough to pay my rent.

Coming off benefits and into work has put me more than £2,000 in debt.

I have tried to get legal advice but no solicitor will give me Legal Aid.

I suppose if I was a lottery winner with many convictions, then I'd get Legal Aid.

I even tried phoning the Quizshow competition on TV to get some money, little realising the chance of winning any was next to nothing.

These TV premium-rate phone quizzes are an out-and-out con. I complained to Ofcom, which told me these companies have done nothing wrong. Once again, the regulators seem to be on their side and are working against the public.

I have always considered myself working class but now consider myself underclass.

I remember when Tony Blair walked along Downing Street to the song Things Can Only Get Better. It seems pretty hollow now and it's evident, no matter who you vote for, we, the ordinary people, get stitched up continuously by politicians from all parties.

-Name and address supplied