Cost of Living crisis

Food inflation up by almost 20%

Image of banknotes and prepayment meter key
Banknotes and a prepayment meter key

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/food-inflation-up-by-almost-20-per-cent

Food prices set to overtake energy bills as cost-of-living crisis ‘epicentre’, report warns

FOOD inflation is up almost 20 per cent on this time last year, new Office for National Statistics showed today.

The consumer prices index (CPI) inflation fell to its lowest level for more than a year last month – but at 8.7 per cent still outstripped average wage increases.

The decline from 10.1 per cent in March was largely down to energy prices stabilising after the sky-high rises from a year ago.

But it was higher than forecast by economists, who had pencilled in a drop to 8.2 per cent in April.

The figures showed food inflation is at 19.3 per cent, down only slightly on March’s 19.6 per cent and remaining close to the highest rate for more than 45 years.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/food-inflation-up-by-almost-20-per-cent

Continue ReadingFood inflation up by almost 20%

Shell AGM disrupted by climate activists

Activists from Fossil Free London and Extinction Rebellion disrupted Shell’s AGM today.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/23541141.shells-annual-meeting-disrupted-protesters-london/

… In a tense moment during the meeting, which had already been delayed for nearly an hour, security stepped in to prevent a protester from reaching chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie and other board members on the stage.

Dozens of protesters were escorted out by members of the security team at London’s Excel conference centre.

“Obviously that last incident went a stage further than we experienced in the first part of today,” Mackenzie said, after protesters had been escorted out.

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Early in the meeting, a group of protesters sang, “Go to hell Shell and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more,” to the tune of the Ray Charles song Hit the Road Jack.

The first protester to get up shouted: “Welcome to Shell… complicit in the destruction of people’s homes, livelihoods and lives. Welcome to hell.”

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https://www.thenational.scot/news/23541141.shells-annual-meeting-disrupted-protesters-london/

Rishi Sunak’s Family Profiting from Ties to Oil Giant Shell

Shell accused of ‘profiteering bonanza’ after record first-quarter profits of $9.6bn

Continue ReadingShell AGM disrupted by climate activists

Anti-strike law: Paul Nowak perfectly dismantles bill ahead of Parliament vote

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/anti-strike-law-paul-nowak-perfectly-dismantles-bill-ahead-of-parliament-vote/

The legislation is an attempt to ‘drive a wedge between working people’

General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Paul Nowak took to the airwaves this morning to speak out about the anti-strikes bill which will be voted on by MPs this evening.

He slammed media accusations of union ‘scare tactics’ by laying out the reality of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill which could see workers lose their job for taking strike action.

As media presenters sought to play down the implications of the bill, Nowak said threatening workers with the sack was ‘untenable’ and that the real reason it was being put through was to ‘demonise trade unions’ and ‘drive a wedge between working people’.

“There is no public appetite at all to see nurses, paramedics, teachers, railway [ workers …] sacked for exercising what most people will think as a fundamental British liberty, the right to strike,” Nowak said on Sky News.

“To remove it would put the UK as a real international outlier.”

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/anti-strike-law-paul-nowak-perfectly-dismantles-bill-ahead-of-parliament-vote/

Continue ReadingAnti-strike law: Paul Nowak perfectly dismantles bill ahead of Parliament vote

Brexit, climate change and ‘greedflation’: The principal reasons behind the spiralling cost of food

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/brexit-climate-change-and-greedflation-the-principal-reasons-behind-the-spiralling-cost-of-food/

In March 2023, the inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose to 19.2 percent, according to Office for National Statistics. This is the fastest rate food inflation has risen in 45 years. ONS figures also show that more than half (51 percent) of adults in the UK are worried about the price of food.

Analysis of official figures by the Lib Dems, shows that customers face higher prices in supermarkets, despite wholesale costs having fallen.  For example, a loaf of wholemeal bread has risen by 26 percent, even though the cost of breadmaking wheat has fallen by 14 percent. Similarly, the price of tomatoes has soared by 13 percent despite farmers having dropped prices by 7 percent.

Separate figures from Which? show that meat, yoghurt and vegetables doubled in price in the year to March.

As inflation continues to rip through family budgets, and consumers are forced to pay sky-high food prices, the government has come under fresh pressure to crackdown on supermarkets. This week, farmers, supermarket bosses, food manufacturers and consumer group representatives gathered at 10 Downing Street to discuss Britain’s food security. But what [are] the reasons behind the UK’s crippling food inflation?

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/brexit-climate-change-and-greedflation-the-principal-reasons-behind-the-spiralling-cost-of-food/

Continue ReadingBrexit, climate change and ‘greedflation’: The principal reasons behind the spiralling cost of food