“… the single biggest thing we’re having to fix.”
.
Sidmouth is fairly well-off, but there are many people who are not:
How much is structural and how much is due to the current economic crisis?
Poverty and unemployment in East Devon – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Especially in current circumstances:
Fuel poverty in Devon – Vision Group for Sidmouth
With more from the local media:
Cost of living crisis | middevonadvertiser.co.uk
Latest News on The Cost of Living Crisis – Devon Live
There are organisations there to help, though:
Signposting | Sid Valley HELP | Sidmouth
For much of today, the response to the Chancellor’s tackling of the cost of living crisis has not been very enthusiastic:
Britons face worst living standards plunge since 1950s despite Rishi’s £15bn plan: Sunak hands back HALF his massive £12bn NI raid, slashes fuel duty by 5p, and says basic tax rate will drop from 20p to 19p in 2024 – but admits pain can’t be avoided
Rishi Sunak unveils mini-Budget for cost-of-living crisis | Daily Mail Online
Boris Johnson has admitted the government needs “to do more” to tackle the growing cost of living crisis plaguing the UK. It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak received a wave of criticism for failing to go far enough to protect living standards in the spring statement which was announced in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Prime Minister noted how the cost of living crisis is “the single biggest thing we’re having to fix.”
British finance minister Rishi Sunak faced broad criticism on Thursday for not giving enough help to poorer households as the country heads for its biggest drop in living standards since at least the 1950s.
‘Indefensible’: UK’s Sunak under fire over response to cost of living crisis | Reuters
The NEF’s newsletter out today addresses the issues:
Families up and down the country face the reality of the worst real-terms incomes squeeze in 50 years. But support to families in yesterday’s spring budget was woefully inadequate, with too little for the people struggling to afford life’s essentials and too much for those who didn’t need it.
There were many things Rishi Sunak could have done to take the pressure off families, like bolstering social security to support families at the sharp end of this crisis, a windfall tax on energy producers’ excess profits to soften the rise in energy prices, and investment in housing retrofit to improve energy security for all. But the chancellor failed to do any of that. He is about to learn that you can’t tax cut your way out of a cost-of-living crisis, and millions of people will pay the price.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive, NEF
Spring statement response: is that it?
NEF’s analyses of the spring statement showed it does too little for people struggling to afford life’s essentials and too much for those who don’t need it – and leaves one-in-three families unable to afford the cost of living.
- Our response was covered by Politics Live, Peston, Newsnight, Guardian Politics Weekly podcast, The Voice, New Statesman, Metro, Stylist, LabourList and openDemocracy.
Sunak’s support to families facing the cost-of-living crisis is woefully inadequate
Miatta Fahnbulleh gave her view of the spring statement to the Guardian.
Spring budget: five asks for Rishi Sunak
With millions struggling to afford life’s essentials, Alfie Stirling sets out how the chancellor could make a real difference.
Fuel price cuts in the UK will largely benefit the SUV-driving elite
Rishi Sunak’s fuel tax cuts won’t benefit those in need, writes Alex Chapman in the Guardian.
23.4 million people unable to afford the cost of living this spring
Nearly half of all children will be living in families that have to make sacrifices on essentials – analysis by Dominic Caddick, Sam Tims and Alfie Stirling.
- Our analysis was featured in the Financial Times, Times, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mirror, Sun, Yorkshire Post, Daily Mail, BBC News Scotland, Evening Standard, and regional outlets including Kent Live, Daily Echo, Oxford Mail, Hampshire Chronicle, Wiltshire Times, North Wales Chronicle and North West Evening Mail.
Sunak’s spring statement will reflect his priorities, not our ability to pay
This is an opportunity for government to show that it cares about promoting peace, improving living standards and tackling climate change, writes Dominic Caddick.
Government measures fail to protect poorest from energy price surge
Poorest 10% of families in the UK set to be £420 a year worse off this spring, write Dominic Caddick, Chaitanya Kumar and Alfie Stirling.
New Economics Podcast: Are fossil fuels funding the war in Ukraine?
What do oil and gas have to do with the war in Ukraine? Will banning Russian fossil fuels really make Putin reconsider? And what does all this mean for soaring energy bills in the UK? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko and Uplift director Tessa Khan.
New Economics Podcast: Tackling the cost of living crisis
When the media talk about the‘cost of living crisis’, what do they mean? How did we end up in a country with more food banks than branches of McDonalds? And what can the government do to make sure everyone can afford life’s essentials? Ayeisha is joined by NEF’s Alfie Stirling and Sabine Goodwin, coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network.
Reshaping finance: A road map for net zero and levelling up
How can we reshape finance to support a green transition and the government’s levelling up agenda? Watch our online event with Joseph Stiglitz, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Kevin Hollinrake, Rushanara Ali and Eric Lonergan and Frank van Lerven.
Help us win safe, affordable housing
NEF believes that through building homes for genuinely affordable rent – instead of prioritising homes to buy – we can end the housing crisis. To help us campaign, we want to hear what the housing crisis looks like to you – and what you want in future. Fill in the survey.
Cost of living: what you need to know
Miatta Fahnbulleh appears on ITV Tonight – there’s still time catch this on Thurs 24 March at 8.30pm GMT.
Priority is to cut taxes, says Rishi Sunak before spring statement
Analysis by Alex Chapman showing that just 7% of the benefit of cutting fuel duty would go to the poorest fifth of households was covered in a Guardian article and editorial, and in the Financial Times.
The war on the poor
Grace Blakeley spoke to Alfie Stirling about the cost of living crisis on Tribune’s A World to Win podcast.
Spring Budget: We need to upgrade Britain’s leaky homes to insulate against the energy crisis
Aydin Dikerdem wrote for the Big Issue calling for the chancellor to invest £11.7bn to make homes warmer and greener.
Energy bills crisis
Miatta was on Good Morning Britain discussing the soaring energy bills in the UK and how government should intervene.