LONDON (AP) – Dominic Watters watches his gas and electricity meter like a hawk. He topped it up a few days ago, but now there’s just GBP1.85 (USD2.40) of credit left. That may determine what kind of dinner he and his teen daughter get tonight, he said.
Watters, a campaigner for better access to nutritious food, is a single dad in Canterbury in southern England who relies on government welfare. He knows microwave meals don’t compare to home-cooked dinners, but sometimes he simply cannot afford to use the gas stove or oven.
“It’s become more and more of a struggle, especially for single parents on benefits,” he said. “It leaves you feeling stranded. It doesn’t allow you enough to pay for fresh fruit and vegetables, and also to pay for the gas and electric to cook the food.”
Since calling a general election for July 4, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been at pains to repeat a key message on the campaign trail: The economy is turning a corner.
Inflation is down. Things are looking up. That’s not the reality for Watters and millions across the United Kingdom (UK) still feeling the squeeze from high food, energy and housing prices.
The persistent cost-of-living crisis is a top concern for voters in the parliamentary election.
Although inflation has returned to near-normal levels after skyrocketing in recent years, energy bills and items on store shelves still cost more than they did before the pandemic, when they started their steep climb. And while wages are starting to rise, mortgages and rents have soared along with interest rates, taking large chunks out of many household incomes.
Coral Dyer, a psychologist who has a young child, was among shoppers lining up to buy GBP1 bowls of fresh vegetables at a bustling street market in Lewisham in south London on a recent day.
“It’s much cheaper than the supermarket, and you get a lot more,” she said. Money’s becoming tighter, she added, with her income just about covering high day care fees.
Dyer, 37, laughed and shook her head when asked if she agreed with Sunak’s upbeat message.
“I don’t really feel that way, no,” she said. “I think we’re being more conscious of buying in bulk, to shop and eat in different ways to save some money. It’s becoming less of a choice and more of the way we have to do things.”
Like other countries, Britain experienced a double economic shock when it was hit by surging prices, first stoked by supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inflation in the UK hit a peak of 11 per cent in late 2022, the highest the country had seen in four decades. For most, especially public sector workers, take-home pay failed to keep up with spiralling prices.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a leading think tank, said in March that the current parliament has overseen the worst growth in living standards since at least 1961. It added that from 2019 to 2023, the number of adults who reported being unable to adequately heat their homes more than doubled.
Sunak is keen to point out that the worst appears to be over: Inflation is now down to 2.3 per cent, and average wages are also rising after more than a decade of low income growth following the 2008 financial crisis. – Sylvia Hui
