Related Articles
Former Labour Parliamentary Candidate Angelina Leatherbarrow today writes in the Havering Daily.
A reader recently commented on my article about the Tories tanking our economy to say that I didn’t talk about pensioners enough, and they were right. The cost of living crisis that the Tories have plunged the Country in to is going to hit our older communities hard this winter. Charities are already warning of needless deaths as the crisis hits the most vulnerable. 18% of the population of Havering is over 65 years of age. Many rely on a state pension and adult social care provided by the Local Authority.
Even with the energy price guarantee that a *typical family bill will be £2500; If you use more than a typical use ( what they’ve based that on is anyone’s guess) you will pay more.
£2500 is still £208 per month which if you are living on a state pension is a third of your available funds before you’ve paid for anything else. Added to food prices skyrocketing through inflation (the price of milk has gone up 40%) currently at 9% which is pushing the cost of day to day essentials up whilst benefits have only increased by 3%. The Tories promised to raise benefits to meet inflation, but they have backtracked on that commitment and many of our oldest residents who have given so much to our communities over decades are already facing a choice of freezing or starving as a result.There is some help available, most pensioners will receive the winter fuel payment ( a drop in the ocean based on current energy bills) if you are in receipt of certain benefits or if you are over 80 you may be entitled to more, but it’s too little too late.
These payments will not be made till November or December when many will have already either had to go without, borrow money to cover the cost of the heating or will already be feeling left out in the cold.There’s also a double whammy that it will be public spending and taxpayers that will foot the bill in the long term. Instead of taxing the billionaire big energy companies who have made millions more in profits than they expected, Truss and her govt will go after public money. We are also facing an £18billion real terms cut to public spending, when local authorities have already seen budgets cut by over 60% by consecutive Tory Governments and voted through by our local MP’s meaning we will undoubtedly see Austerity 2.0 biting soon.
We will see cuts to the very social care and community services that our older people rely on to stay well, live independently and be safe. If you are living in private rented accommodation, you may also end up facing unmanageable rent increases as landlords pass on the cost of huge interest rates on mortgages going up or end up with your grown up children facing repossession.
Lots of the older people that I know, are proud of their ability to cut their cloth to their means and quietly going without having survived post war rationing then 80’s recession and power cuts with dignity and blitz spirit. But no one voted for this and no one should be experiencing that hardship in 2022 in the 6th richest country in the world.
Putting our pensioners out in the cold is a political choice being made by the Conservatives. In 2019 The Tories enjoyed a 47 point lead amongst voters over 65 years of age. I wonder if they will be assured of those votes come the next General Election having treated them so appallingly.Liz Truss and the MP for Romford, Andrew Rosindell are both devoted Thatcherites. They must be loving the familiar feeling of the highest inflation since 1982 and impending blackouts just like when she was PM. The rest of us might be struggling to cover the weekly food shop but at least they can reminisce about the “good old days”.
Advice on how to keep warm this winter and on what support is available can be found at www.ageuk.org.uk
