The Mirror reported on April 24 that its exclusive investigation revealed the impact of soaring costs of living for People in the UK: More than half of British households will not be able to pay their bills within a few months, more than 5 million people have been forced to choose between heating and eating, and some parents have even lost one meal a day to feed their children.
This is a livelihood problem caused by the soaring energy prices in early April and the government's increase in national insurance. At the same time, the contest between some political parties in Britain has also begun.
The Labour party seized on the findings and slammed the current British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, for failing to take appropriate steps to help those currently struggling to make ends meet. Keir Starmer, a Labour leader, told The Mirror: "Working people are suffering from disaster and the worst is coming."
"People are working hard and getting less and less, while the Conservatives are raising taxes at the worst of times."
"The government's refusal to act is shameful."
"We now need an emergency budget to put money back in people's pockets." Kiel added.
There are indications that the UK urgently needs to take action to deal with the energy crisis. This will also be one of the main factors influencing the recent local elections.
Energy costs for 22 million households have soared on record lines since April 1, and a real large-scale crisis has only begun. Adam Scorer, chief executive of the charity National Energy Action, said: "The energy bill has not yet been introduced. But people can no longer heat the house, do not want to take a hot bath, can not use the stove and washing machine, let the child watch TV is a luxury. ”
"You can't measure this crisis in pounds and pennies. Money cannot measure how the energy crisis has destroyed the basic quality of life of millions of people. "As winter comes, the weather will only get worse and colder, and at that time, we will have to prove this crisis with thousands of deaths." ”
The surge in energy bills prompted regulator Ofgem to launch an investigation to determine whether suppliers were deducting more from user accounts than necessary, and the answer was that 7/10 did so.
Experts believe that the average energy consumption expenditure of British households may rise from the already extremely high 1971 pounds (about 16454 yuan) to more than 2500 pounds (about 20870 yuan) by next winter. Since April, the fee has risen by £20 (about 166 yuan).
A government spokesman said: "We understand that people are battling rising prices and while we cannot insulate everyone from the challenges facing the world today, we will provide £22 billion (about 183.7 billion yuan) in aid this financial year to support BRITISH families through the coming months."
A survey of more than 1,600 adults conducted by British polling firm Deltapol from April 21 to 23 showed that the cost of living crisis is the biggest problem families have long faced. At present, people have to make changes in order to survive, even tightening their pants and belts to live.
Here's how much of the interviewee chose the survey option:
More time spent at home – 41%
Buy less clothes – 37%
Less takeaway – 34%
Reduce driving trips to save fuel – 30%
Cancel non-essential expenses, such as TV subscriptions – 27%
Fewer night outings – 26%
Cancellation of day trips - 25%
Eat unhealthily to save money – 18%
Cancellation of holiday plans – 16%
Borrow money from family or friends – 13%
Choose between "eating" and "warming/not eating" – 10%
Pay by credit card – 8%
Cancellation of Gym Membership – 8%
Increased overdraft – 6%
In order for the child to eat enough, he chooses not to eat - 6%
Less money is spent on kids' school activities – 5%
One or more rent arrears – 4%
Loan on payday – 3%
Spend less on your child's school trips – 3%
Used Pawns – 2%
Missed mortgage repayment once or more – 1%
None of the above – 19%
This article is titled: nbaliker This article is edited by :feifei