The UK’s cost of living crisis is a persistent fight to lower inflation and make commodities affordable for the general public. With inflation setting records at a fluctuation at and around 10 per cent. With winter right around the corner, it is getting ever-so difficult for consumers to sustain a low budget. According to a study, in 2021 alone, 10000 England residents died as a result of a shortage of energy, during the chilling winters. The rising costs of energy, would surely not make these numbers better.
A research briefing released by the Library of the House of Commons cites the rising energy costs, especially after the War in Ukraine, to be one of the biggest influencers of the inflation crisis. A spike to 100 dollars a barrel is what they deem is a large problem acting as a supply shock.
Through September, 500 million pounds are allocated to help act as relief for many residents, with both their food insecurity and energy bills. But is it enough? Surely the utility bill support and Barnett formula-for devolved territories- was a good step, but not enough, with a significant percentage of the population having to work multiple jobs and longer hours. This is leading to a deterioration of health conditions for many in the country, looking to migrate south, or to an area with a controlling inflation rate.
Rising energy costs, especially after the War in Ukraine, are one of the biggest influencers of the inflation crisis.
This has had a large mental toll on British consumers, who at the moment, are at crossroads, between seeking an income, and maintaining a ration of clothes, food, and water for the long and cold winter ahead. Many of these folks are elderly people, who have had to face so much during the Covid crisis. From losing fellows to being the hardest hit by Covid policies and isolation, the elderly population is seeing an exacerbating health condition, with many worrying about where their next meal will come from.
One of the main illnesses that these people are suffering from is anxiety. However, some people fail to recognize the signs of stress and consider it to be a normal feeling inherent in them which accounts for further deterioration, given that no diagnosis is given or received on time. Folks are often unaware of the true consequences that result in anxiety. Varying from life expectancy, to even the mere idea of being unable to care for their children, folks are seeing themselves decline, with poverty, as the least of their problems.
Health professionals have at multiple times, expressed their concern for the matter at hand. A poll commissioned by the Royal College of Physicians found that 55 per cent of survey applicants felt rising costs had adversely affected their health, specifically their mental health state. What does this mean? It means that the folks who have to drive to another town for work, are now having to pay more prices for fuel. With transportation costs on the rise and real wages, at a recession-era low, we see how England sees itself with staggering numbers. One in seven UK adults has said (as of April), that they will be facing food insecurity. That’s about seven million people, in one of the richest countries in the world (The Food Foundation).
The same Lancet study, providing these claims, charts that “Good nutrition, shelter, and the ability to lead a dignified life are essential foundations of good health.” Let us break this down. Nutrition is absent following scarcity of basic commodities. The shelter is virtually inexistent as we see housing costs on the rise, with eviction policies, nowhere near control. The fact of a dignified life depends on whether you’re even alive at the end of the day, which for some people, is unfortunately not the case.
Now, with a new prime minister coming into office, the UK has a beam of hope. Whether Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, we know that both are aware of the declining conditions of the country and recognise inflation needs to be dealt with on an urgent basis. Something similar to what the Federal Reserve in the US had suggested has been circulated with the Office of the Exchequer working on a policy, likely to come into effect after the September 5 results.
What voters (less than a percentage of Conservative voters), are willing to see is a candidate, who doesn’t just look at the economics of things, but also at the societal indifference present in all aspects of British life. the UK has seen these levels of Inflation before (in the 80s), but recovered, not with lowering costs, but with resilience, an idea needed to be sown back in the hearts of millions who are just a pound away from a stroke.
The writer is a medical analyst and an aspiring public health specialist.