Why is everything so expensive now ? Is it partly due to the lockdowns ?

[Lipglosser]

Seriously somethings are four/five times the price they were

just wondering why everything has got so so expensive

Because the UK in their wisdom (not me) voted for brexit.
Also the war in Ukraine and covid

Oh thanks for the explanations, some things I hadn’t even considered
I was just thinking about lockdown this morning and thinking how odd the whole thing was
esp the bonkers clapping, it’s like it was some kind of surreal dream or nightmare now well that’s how it feels to me at least

and I was thinking that’s to blame for all of this but I can see now it’s so much deeper than just that

given me food for thought

Commercial rentals are sky high and premises non existent where I am (south east, not London).
small businesses don’t stand a chance as they are all being turned into 300k+ flats or 600k houses.

Covid didn’t help anything , but it also seems to have given a lot of places an excuse to have even more rubbish ‘ customer service’ and a reliance on people doing a lot of it yourself ( such as the self service check outs , for one example)
Most places you go to is more ‘ service with a scowl’ than a smile.

Didn't they say it would take fifty years to recover from Brexit? People still voted for it. Then we got hit by a pandemic and war, right after that colossal act of self-harm. Turns out sovereignty doesn't pay the bills!

I think it’s called capitalism.
Also, as supermarkets diversify, they don’t make all of their profit from the core product.

Another thing that annoys me is if you complain about anything you rarely receive a reply! Or trying to find out who to write to or complain to is also difficult too.

“We are experiencing a high volume of calls”

all the time

The NI impact on small employers is massive. I employ a nanny part time, PAYE. Her salary is £1000 net. I have to add on NI and pension contributions. Her NI was £30, and since the increase it’s £85. This is a very big jump for me to cover on top of everything becoming more expensive, when my own salary has remained the same.

Brexit
Ukraine war affect engery prices wold wide
Poor harvest due to erratic weather
In UK partly green taxes and odd set up of engery market - national grid biding system
Lack of investment for decades in infrastucture - so added to many bills now

NIC is fair enough, but the living wage isn’t an issue. Every single economic study proves it doesn’t cause economic problems, if anything it makes things better. The other thing it does, is reduces the benefits bill.

It’s called inflation.

I found this article interesting in relation to how Amazon results in sellers raising prices elsewhere, essentially -

• Amazon charges high fees (commissions, advertising, logistics) to third-party sellers.
• Sellers then raise their product prices on Amazon to cover those costs.
• Because Amazon often enforces “most-favoured-nation” (MFN) clauses, sellers are required (or pressured) to keep their prices off Amazon (e.g. on their own websites or other platforms) at least as high as on Amazon.
• The higher price on Amazon “infects” sales off the Amazon platform.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

When in doubt, blame it all on the tech billionaires. Blame up, not down.

To be fair to them the brexit voters did say they'd rather be so poor they'd have to eat grass than be under the yoke of the EU.

Looks like their wish came true!

Plus the increase in the NMW and NI in the UK, which means the time of retail workers, import. distribution, transport are all more costly and nudge the price of finished goods up further.

Small boats

The NI increases are a bit of a red herring imo, many other European countries have higher business social security taxes.

I think you will find that won’t happen.

It's very hard on everyone especially those who are still working with children. Pensioners with no mortgage and the Winter Fuel payment + a work and State pension (even though they have the usual expenses), have it a lot easier. But they endured the peaks and troughs all their working lives too.

Anyway, I feel these periods of high inflation and interest rates, taxes and so on are cyclical. However, I do believe Brexit knocked the confidence out of a lot of innovators and potential entrepreneurs. Add that to the increased cost of imports and higher energy costs due to war in Ukraine etc..

Either way, the bottom line is that no matter what the income is, more of it is going on essentials, leaving many with little for even a small bit of enjoyment for their labours. That's depressing alright.

Brexit, Covid, war especially Russia , climate change

lack of investment and cutting of corners by the previous government/ last few decades , ever rising house prices from the great council home sell off in the 1980s

lots of things work together to make things hard for a lot of people

Unfortunately because of Brexit you now get a shit pear for £3

It’s Brexit, Covid & the Ukraine war mainly

I was in France earlier this summer. Food prices are on a par with here, if not higher. Fruit, veg, meat, dairy and cheese, olive oils, nuts, dried fruit, flour, sugar were all comparable, as were petrol and diesel. Breads and wine were the only products that were significantly cheaper.

Mind you I was in Northern Spain two years ago and I couldn't believe how cheap it was.