Cutting the Cost of Living

Ask yourself: are you better off than you were in 2020?

All across the country, people are struggling to make ends meet. The price of everything is up, buying the weekly shop, filling the tank, visiting the doctor or taking out insurance.

We are told that the economy is strong, and, in some ways, it is. Yes, there are record numbers of people working. Yes, wages have risen. But for most of us, it hasn’t been enough to keep pace with the rising cost of living.

It’s true that governments can’t control the price of everything. But they can ease the burden on households and take action that reduces the cost of living indirectly. The current government have tried to do this with once-off payments and other gimmicks. Welcome as they may be at the time, the benefits quickly evaporate and people are left as badly off as before.

What we need are permanent measures to boost incomes and reduce the cost of basic public services. The Social Democrats have committed in our General Election Manifesto to the following 40 measures that can meaningfully reduce the cost of living:

You can read more about our plans in the document, linked below.