Londoners are having to cut back on the most basic food items to keep their head’s above the water as the cost of living crisis bites. It seems Rishi Sunak’s multi-billion pound support package is a few months late for those who are already hurting from price increases in food, energy, petrol, and rent.
MyLondon spoke to people in Barking in East London, which was ranked the most deprived borough in the capital in a 2019 government study that measures deprivation on multiple factors include income, health, and crime. The area is diverse and bustling with a thriving market but people are struggling to make ends meet, choosing to cut back on things many take for granted.
Full-time mum Mary McCarthy, 30, from the Gascoigne Estate – in the 10 per cent of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country – said: “We are finding it very hard the struggle. Our gas and electric has gone up £50 a week, it’s terrible since the food went up. We can’t afford it anymore to feed ourselves.
READ MORE: ‘I work two jobs, 60 hours a week to afford to live in London but told it’s not enough by the government’
(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga)
“It’s affecting my daughter very badly – she has lost weight. We have breakfast in the morning and lunch at school, but they can barely eat a snack when they come home. Now we have to shop in charity shops – we are barely surviving.”
She’s not the only one having to make sacrifices. Market man Nick Bedwel, 46, told MyLondon he was drastically cutting prices just to keep customers coming to his clothes stall. He said: “We are running on lost profit now. We are taking a hit to keep customers.
“Some things we are working on 50p margins, it is a ridiculous mark-up. The price of petrol is hitting us hard – last year it cost me £70 now it costs £100.”
(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga)
While nearly half of children in Barking and Dagenham live in poverty, the elderly are facing their own unique challenges due to the cost of living. Energy costs and tax increases are worrying pensioners. Lifelong Barking resident Sheila Salter, 79, said: “I am managing quite well.
“Not so bad with the food but I do worry about the heating bills and council tax. I have just had to a be a bit more sensible, I am quite fortunate in a way I have somewhere to live but there’s such a lot of homelessness.” Barking was ranked second in England for physical and financial access to housing and local services.
(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga)
West Ham fan Barry Holmes, 75, from Upton Park wasn’t convinced it’s the government’s fault though, instead blaming Labour leader Keir Starmer for the mess.
He said: “Cost of living? Nothing wrong with it, the one thing that’s bad about it is the Labour party. – all they want is your money, they want to tax everything and waste it.”
After MyLondon pointed out the Tory government had been in power for 12 years, he said: “I am happy with the Conservative government. They might have broken lockdown rules but Labour has done it too and tried to get out of it. They have only just sorted out the mess Labour left last time.”
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