LONDON (AP) — Dominic Watters watches his gas and electricity meter like a hawk. He raised it a few days ago, but now only has 1.85 pounds ($2.40) of credit left. That might determine what kind of dinner he and his teenage daughter have tonight, he says.
Watters, a campaigner for better access to nutritious food, is a single father in Canterbury in southern England who relies on government welfare. He knows that microwave meals don’t compare to home-cooked dinners, but sometimes he just can’t afford to use the gas stove or oven.
“It’s becoming more and more of a struggle, especially for single parents on benefits,” he said. “It leaves you feeling trapped. It doesn’t allow you to pay enough for fresh fruit and vegetables, and to pay for the gas and electricity to cook the food.”
Since the year calling the general elections for July 4British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tried to repeat it a key message on the campaign trail: The economy is turning a corner. Inflation has decreased. Things are looking up.
That is not the reality for Watters and the millions of people across the UK who are still feeling the squeeze from high food, energy and housing prices. The ongoing cost of living crisis is a major concern for voters in the U.S parliamentary electionswhen they will elect lawmakers to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons, and the leader of the party who can command a majority – either alone or in coalition – will become prime minister.
until Conservators of Sunak widely expected to lose after 14 years in power, the dire state of the economy – combined with a deep disillusionment with politics and politicians among voters – means the prevailing mood ahead of the election is one of doom, not excitement or hope for change , even if the opposition Labor Party wins.
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Although inflation has returned to near-normal levels after rising sharply in recent years, energy bills and items on store shelves still cost more than before the pandemic, when they began their steep climb. And as wages have begun to rise, mortgages and rents have risen along with interest rates, taking large chunks of many families’ incomes.
Coral Dyer, a psychologist who has a young child, was among shoppers lining up to buy 1-pound ($1.30) bowls of fresh vegetables at a bustling street market in Lewisham in south London on a recent day.
“It’s a lot cheaper than the supermarket and you get a lot more,” she said. Money is getting tighter, she added, with her income barely enough to cover high day care fees.
Dyer, 37, laughed and shook his head when asked if he agreed with Sunak’s upbeat message.
“I don’t really feel that way, no,” she said. “I think we’re more conscious of buying in bulk, shopping and eating in different ways to save money. It’s becoming less of a choice and more of a way of doing things.”
Like other countries, Britain experienced a double economic shock when it was hit by rising prices, first driven by supply chain problems during the coronavirus pandemic and then by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
UK inflation peaked at 11% at the end of 2022, the highest the country had seen in four decades. For most, especially public sector workerstake home pay failed to keep up with spiraling prices.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a leading think tank, said in March that the current parliament has overseen the worst rise in living standards since at least 1961. It added that from 2019 to 2023, the number of adults who reported not being in able to properly 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%, and average wages are also rising after more than a decade of low income growth following the 2008 financial crisis.
But there is little to be excited about. The latest official figures released last week showed this economic growth was flat in April, after increasing by 0.6% during the first quarter of the year.
The IFS and many economists have warned that whoever wins the election will face hard choices to raise taxes or cut public spending because they will have to contend with a huge debt burden as they try to pull Britain out of economic stagnation.
For those on benefits or low incomes, talk of change or growth feels distant when it’s a daily struggle to afford the basics of food and heating. Britain’s poorest have been disproportionately hit by the cost of living crisis because they spend a far greater proportion of their incomes on essentials.
More people are falling into poverty and more are turning to food banks, according to the Trussell Trust, which runs more than half of all UK food banks. The charity said it provided 3 million emergency food parcels to people in need last year – a record number for the trust – including over 300,000 people using a food bank for the first time.
At the Hackney Community Food Center in east London, a high-speed area that nevertheless still has one of the highest levels of child poverty in the UK, volunteers say their workload hasn’t eased in years the latter as they packed bread and canned food for customers. .
“I hope that these elections will be fruitful. I personally doubt it,” said Michelle Dornelly, who has run the service since the pandemic. “I’ve given up hope with these politicians and those who understand ordinary people, working class people. I’m tired of them not taking the time to come and see what we’re doing and how people are living.”
While Labor has a significant lead in the polls and is widely expected to win by political commentators and members of the public, there is a deep lack of optimism or confidence among voters that either Sunak or his rival, Keir Starmermay bring material change.
Watters, the food activist, said things won’t get better until those in power take the time to listen to struggling families.
“I think it’s been so bad for so long that people are trying to hold out hope for a change,” he said. “But there’s a sort of shared sense of hopelessness within my estate (social housing block) about whether change is actually going to happen, no matter what government comes in.”
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