OXFORD Street Christmas lights will be running a reduced-hours service as experts warn the energy bills scandal is causing an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The New West End Company said they were switching the lights off because of the “current ­climate”.

The move comes as tens of thousands of households in Westminster face unmanageable increases in their electricity and gas bills.

The October hike has triggered a national day of action tomorrow (Saturday) in the first of a wave of organised protests this autumn.

New West End Company campaigns chief Hadas Kulcsar said: “In the current climate it is also important that we reduce our energy consumption and help to promote a more sustainable Christmas. The reduced hours of our Christmas lights are a great step forward to achieving this.”

Lights are being turned off across Europe including at the Eiffel Tower for at least one hour a day. Spain’s government has ordered some stores, churches and cathedrals to switch off the lights late at night.

Experts have this week warned that the squeeze will increase levels of homelessness, hunger, depression, anxiety, addiction and crime.

The University College of London’s Institute of Health has published a report warning of a “significant humanitarian crisis” unfolding with more than half of homes being plunged into fuel poverty.

NHS Confederation bosses have written to ministers warning of how the knock-on impact of living in cold homes will be increases in cardiovascular illness and other diseases, leading to a “public health emergency”.

The Enough is Enough campaign has called 50 demonstrations across the country, including one at King’s Cross from midday. It says millions of people will be dragged below the poverty line unless the October price cap is cancelled and wants changes so that everyone has enough to eat, affordable bills, and a decent place to live.

Backing the campaign, the RMT union’s general secretary Mick Lynch said the government’s mini-budget, combined with the energy bill rises, “looks completely callous”, and added: “It looks like a transfer of wealth from ordinary people to the uber-rich, and that will be resented for many years to come. People are fed up. We need to turn that into real organisation.”

Longer-term the campaign says energy companies should be brought into public ownership with public investment in renewable energy to “break the power of the oil giants”.

A “right to food” should be enshrined in law, rents should be capped, and the National Insurance hike reversed.