7 Million Households Foregoing Basics
The SNP has described a worsening ‘Tory housing nightmare’ as fresh figures show rent taking up the largest share of pay for tenants in a decade.
Research from property portal Zoopla revealed the average UK tenant now spends more than 28% of their pay before tax on rent, with average rents for new lets having jumped an average of 10.4% in a year. The research comes as the typical two-year fixed mortgage deal breached 6% in the UK earlier this month.
The SNP has said work being undertaken by the Scottish Government was being put at risk by the Tories’ lack of action to bring down mortgage rates and end households’ cost concerns.
It comes as a leading progressive think tank warned Britain’s economy is trapped in a growth ‘doom loop’, with analysis confirming business investment in the UK is lower than in any other G7 country and 27th out of 30 OECD countries – ahead of only Poland, Luxembourg and Greece.
George Dibb, associate director for economy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has sounded the economic alarm bell, warning that the UK risks falling even further behind its wealthy neighbours unless urgent action is taken.
He said the UK “is experiencing a debilitating case of investment-phobia, and the government’s aversion to investing to seize opportunities is stopping us from getting out of the growth doom loop we find ourselves in.”
Amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, it has further been reported that 7 million UK households have gone without items such as food, heating or basic toiletries for more than a year.
The research conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found the crisis had hit low-income households on Universal Credit hardest, with 87% having gone without at least one essential for the third survey in over a year.
It found 76% of such households have gone hungry, cut down on or skipped meals in the last 30 days – demonstrating the urgent need for an Essentials Guarantee to protect the nation’s health.
Households are continuing to feel the damage of reckless and ignorant economic decisions emanating from Westminster, which have wreaked havoc on the housing market at the same time as other living costs soar.
GRAEME
Hit hardest, of course, are those on lower incomes forced to skip on basic essentials – the figures in the Joseph Rowntree report are just scandalous.
With pro-Brexit Labour equally committed to a damaging Brexit that is entrenching poverty, the case for independence makes itself amid the picture of the UK painted by the IPPR analysis.
Only the SNP is offering real change and a better future, and real support in the immediate term with progressive policies like the Scottish Child Payment.
