Will heating soon be too expensive for three quarters of Britons?

Sunak's Land Tumbles - "Colossal Mismanagement"

Created: 12/25/2022, 10:58 p.m

By: Florian Naumann

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, seen here distributing food to army personnel.

© HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP

Great Britain is worried about “fuel poverty”: heating is becoming too expensive for many because wages are no longer sufficient.

An expert makes a harsh judgment.

Munich – Not only people in Germany have to struggle with high energy costs – many people in Great Britain are also in need.

The problem seems even bigger there.

An indication: In London, public, warm lounges are booming.

Among other things, the US broadcaster CNN reports on this.

One possible reason is probably the real massive drop in wage levels in the United Kingdom.

"Thousands" of so-called heat benches have opened in the UK this winter, writes

.

The "Warm Welcome Campaign" alone knows 3,000 registered carriers of such offers.

More than a million sick people could be at risk from exposure to the cold this winter, the

reported a few days ago.

Organizations warn of new illnesses from living in cold and damp homes.

Even King Charles broke with royal tradition on December 25 and addressed the issue publicly.

Britain freezes: 'We have people here who work full-time and can't make ends meet'

One of the reasons for the misery: According to the British government, the cost of living has risen rapidly since the beginning of 2021.

The transition phase of Brexit ended on December 31, 2020.

In November 2022, the administration estimated the inflation rate at 10.1 percent.

Energy costs are currently a major factor: According to CNN, gas prices alone have skyrocketed by 129 percent within a year.

At the same time, Great Britain is the only G7 economy that is still smaller than before the Corona crisis.

"Especially this winter it's extremely important that we offer a space for people to switch off at home and save money," a volunteer from the city of Norwich in eastern England told the broadcaster.

"We have people here who work full-time and can't make ends meet," she added.

"That's the real difference."

According to calculations by the University of York, more than three quarters of households on the island could no longer be financially able to adequately heat their homes by the New Year.

However, this forecast dates back to August.

Britain in distress?

Wages may drop to 2006 levels – strikes galore

At the same time, management consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers paints a bleak picture of the other side of the coin: British wage income.

Adjusted for inflation, wages could fall to 2006 levels in 2023, experts calculated in a study published by CNN.

In real terms, income will probably decrease both in 2022 and in the new year.

In fact, strikes have been going on for some time.

There will also be strikes on Boxing Day: the border guards want to stop working at the airports.

The festival is overshadowed by the strikes anyway.

Scores of people have not received their Christmas mail or parcels as Royal Mail workers have been off work for weeks.

Strikes on the railways and among border officials make it difficult to visit relatives.

There are also frequent strikes in many other sectors, such as in the healthcare sector.

And maybe things will get worse in the new year.

Britons facing home-grown problems: 'Mismanagement on a colossal scale'

Michael Marmot, director of the Institute for Social Disparities in Health at University College London, underscores the seriousness of the problem.

"Poverty has been building up and getting worse over the last 10, 12 years," he told CNN.

The fact that Great Britain has not yet recovered economically from Corona shows “mismanagement of colossal proportions”.

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Marmot sees the problem as homegrown, at least in part.

Years of austerity, poor aid, cuts in public welfare and infrastructure, and a lack of regulation in the energy market have now left millions with heat supply problems.

Meanwhile, Sunak embarrassed himself at Christmas in a conversation with a homeless person, as

reported

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