Yahoo Finance Cost of living: Britons skipping meals and cutting back on energy use, TUC warns
Britons are cutting out meals and reducing energy use as soaring food and energy bills and plummeting real wages squeeze family budgets, a new poll shows.
The poll – carried out for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) by Opinium – shows that 1 in 7 (14%) people across the UK are having to skip meals or go without food to make ends meet.
But in 47 parliamentary constituencies this number rises to 20% or above, and the proportion of people across the UK skipping meals is the same for people in work and people out of work (14%).
Regionally, Birmingham Ladywood has the highest (29%) number of constituents that are forced to skip meals or miss out on food, followed by Dundee West (27%), Glasgow (24%) and Rhondda (24%).
Read more: Energy bills could hit £4,000 after Jeremy Hunt U-turns on support
In the cities of London and Westminster – home to Parliament and Downing Street – well over a 23% of local people are missing out on meals and food.
The MRP poll of 10,000 people, published in the same week as the government reduced long-term energy support reveals that 55% of the population are cutting back on heating, hot water or electricity.
Meanwhile, 1 in 12 (8%) of those polled report missing payment of a household bill.
However, this number skyrockets to 1 in 3 for constituents living in the cities of London and Westminster (33%), and to 1 in 5 in Birmingham Ladywood, Barking and Hendon
It said the findings were a "stark reminder" of the cost of living pressures facing households throughout the UK.
Read more: Ofgem to launch campaign telling people how to save money on energy bills
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: "No one should have to worry about putting food on the table or heating their homes.
"But millions of families are struggling to cover even the basics, and now face huge uncertainty over their energy bills after the Chancellor said support may end in April.
"Unless we get pay rising across the economy – and ensure benefits rise in line with inflation – we risk heading towards Victorian levels of poverty.
"The Conservatives should be working with unions to help households get through this crisis. But they want to make it harder for working people to win better pay and conditions.
"Instead of giving bungs to bankers, ministers need to get money into people’s pockets."
The union body called on the government to impose a "much higher" windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
As well as raising pay across the economy by "backing trade unions and allowing unions to negotiate pay rises across whole sectors".
It also urged Liz Truss's government to give key workers in the public sector cost of living proofed pay rises, and raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour as soon as possible.
Watch: How to save money on a low income
