Nearly one in five people in Sheffield have been forced to skip meals or reduce the amount they eat over the last month, due, according to Resolution Foundation research, to people’s inability to keep up with soaring energy bills and food prices.
This equates to nearly 100,000 people being affected in Sheffield, with an estimated 24% of British parents having to miss meals in order to afford to feed their children.
Tackling the cost-of-living crisis
Minesh Parekh, a Labour councillor and deputy chair of the economic development and skills policy committee, said:
“The cost-of-living crisis is getting deeper and deeper, and families in Sheffield are paying the price. That is a disgrace, yet our out of touch government is asleep at the wheel.”
Cllr Lewis Chinchen, the only Conservative representative in Sheffield, defended the government’s policies. He said: “Bringing inflation down is the most effective and sustainable way of dealing with the cost of living – that is why the government has made it a priority and we are now seeing inflation beginning to fall, with it expected to fall further.”
Although general inflation has indeed fallen in recent months, ONS data show food price inflation in the UK to have increased to 19.1% for the 12 months leading up to March, its fastest pace in over 40 years.
Who is to blame?
Cllr Parekh attributes these figures to poor economic management from central government. He outlined Labour’s plans following the party’s local success during the May elections, saying “A Labour government would support local families with a council tax freeze – fully funded through a proper windfall tax on the bumper profits of oil and gas giants”.
Cllr Parekh’s comments follow a controversial increase in council tax of 4.99%, the maximum allowed without a referendum, replicated in local councils across the UK.
Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed, the leader of the Liberal Democrats group in Sheffield, responded to Cllr Parekh’s statement by pointing out that although this increase was largely due to the Conservative government choosing to “pass the buck for vicious tax rises onto councils”, the Tories are not fully to blame.
“These numbers are shocking and show the damage that the Conservative’s cost-of-living crisis has done to our city’s residents. No-one in Sheffield should be skipping meals.
“Regarding the proposal from Cllr Parekh to freeze council tax, I don’t recall hearing him propose this on 1 March, when the council voted unanimously to approve a rise of 4.99%.”
Although local councils decide the rate of council tax, it is unclear whether the recent near-national rise was even avoidable.
Instead, both Cllr Mohammed and Cllr Parekh agree these are measures that have come up as a result of funding being bled from local councils over decades.
In the meantime, families across Sheffield, and the UK more widely, continue to face harsh decisions, with nearly a quarter of British parents having to miss meals in order to feed their children.
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