Cost of living and our future local economy.

 

Many Southampton city residents are finding it tough to balance their budgets mainly due to rising prices which began to escalate back in February this year.  The impacts have been made much worse by government tax hikes and lower than inflation benefit rises.  This is putting thousands in Southampton unnecessarily into serious hardship.

We need to tackle the underlying cause of high energy bills by fitting insulation and heat pumps in homes across the country to ensure they are warm.  We must not have to rely on fossil fuels in order to heat them. A lot of our food is imported, so high fuel costs have a serious impact.

The war in Ukraine and the global shipping slow down have made markets insecure but there are also serious fall out effects for Southampton jobs which rely on a healthy stream of ships and trade.

Joe Cox Southampton & District Green Party spokesperson said,

'Southampton's flagging sea trade is the knock-on effect of Southampton being reliant on goods being sourced from one country almost halfway around the world.  It is possible that our docks could start to go into decline should the UK fail to sort out a low-carbon energy policy for the UK and for international trade'.

'More is the pity that previous governments made it more attractive to buy goods from overseas instead of encouraging growing food and promoting manufacturing within the UK.  In the previous century Southampton was a manufacturing hub and had a diverse makeup of industry across the city'.

With food and fuel prices rising, some folk can no longer afford even the basics. Southampton City Mission, which runs the various basic and food banks around the city report a drop in donations.  The Charity is appealing to the public to donate more tinned and packaged food products like spaghetti Bolognese, cannelloni, classic stews and meatballs. Any items can be dropped into the collection crates placed at most of Southampton supermarkets.

Katherine Barbour commented on the current crisis: 'We know residents are struggling to pay for their energy costs but this week we also hear of hikes, such as at Southampton NHS which had a £3.5m rise.  We have to reduce costs by improving insulation and getting our energy from low-cost sun and wind sources.  We need to become more self-sufficient in the basics such as food.'

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Links :- https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/20107876.southampton-firms-struggle-amid-cost-living-crisis-ukraine-war/