Why is it worse in the U.K.

[Thatsaturdayfeeling]

I’m British but not in the U.K. at the moment. Where I am, we also have food price increases and petrol was v high for a while, but it’s all not to the extent as the U.K…why is the U.K. in such dire straits compared to other places?

You can’t just blame the government. The great British public has also made one disastrous decision after another at the ballot box. Not to mention members of the Tory party.

I would said relying on benefits is shit.

Which country are you living in at the moment OP?

This! Ours is around 9.9% that's no where near the 17% that The Netherlands is seeing. Even Germany is higher than us.

We're our own worse enemy slating the UK all the time.

Uk has had sick cheap food for ages. You should see the prices people were paying in Ireland and France, not to mention Aus.

I will admit that our fuel is expensive but I don’t think we’re worse off for affordability.

A poster up thread has it - low wages. Inflation is similar to elsewhere (its very high in North America for example). But, the difference is that high housing costs everywhere in the UK combined with very low wages which have failed to keep up, means there is no slack. People are out of options.
In, for example, Canada - you can move from a city to a small town with very cheap houses and still makes half decent money /afford to live as a waitress/health care aide etc. You still have options. This just isn't really possible anywhere in the UK these days.

Prices are expensive for certain items in other countries but their salaries are much much higher so it’s all relative I guess?

I just spent a few weeks back in the Uk and though everyone was saying prices were rising -all the food is still just ridiculously cheap compared to NZ where I live. People say Australia is expensive but at least they have Aldi there -we can only dream.

Ah I see Clavinova is back to post random links! Brexit isn't everything but it certainly hasn't helped as it has cost so much that we will be paying it off for decades and will probably never pay off financially - good thing we really, really wanted blue passports! 😂

And our salaries in NZ are lower too:(

I'm in the south of Italy and have just been in the UK for a week.
We can only dream of food prices like that here, apart from bags of pasta. Meat here is double, if not triple what it is in the UK and generally far inferior. (for example)

Are they? Aren’t most houses in NZ >1M? I thought salaries were high there?

This

I found the opposite! Good quality food is cheaper in Italy than in the UK. UK was cheaper on junk food though. I'm comparing Northern Italy with Southern England though.

It's not just UK OP.

I'm also in another country and we have a cost of living crisis too..

We don't even have electricity all day! This week I had 4 hours of electricity in the day. There isn't enough to go around. (there are other factors but that's a whole other thread)

Our saving grace is that we don't need to heat our homes, but we certainly haven't got off lightly.

This is a UK based site, so you will hear more about the UK situation here.

Where are you btw?

Salaries are low, especially away from Auckland and Wellington. House prices are high in some areas, some not so much. Eating out is much more expensive than UK and we pay to see a GP, $50 where we live, around 27GBP.

NZ is a fantastic country but it has its faults, just like every other country.

What country are you in?

I agree with pp this site focusses on U.K. and many other places have similar costs and inflation

It’s not just the UK. We also live abroad and it’s being talked about a lot here too (mainland Europe). We’ve been contacted by our electricity company to raise our monthly payments. As we’re close to a border there is a lot of conversation about where to go for fuel/shopping etc.

I always tend to read more UK news and feel things are worse there but really I just don’t read much local news as it’s not in my first language.

Food has always been super cheap in the UK. When I've lived there, I felt like I could buy whatever I wanted at Waitrose. Returned to Aus, trolley is full of home brand items and not seeing much difference in total expenditure.

It's not worse in the UK, we are all seeing inflation. But maybe you started from a lower cost level?

Also I think the news about it is a bit obsessive in the UK which makes people feel worse. Obviously it is a big story but is it necessary to keep on asking random members of the public for their opinion??

Brexit

U.K. is more unequal than most wealthy economies. Inequality has an effect on wellbeing and public confidence that can be more stressful than a lower standard of living.

It’s not, or it shouldn’t be.
Our debt to GDP ratio is lower than Germany, the US and much lower than Japan.
We just have an incompetent government seemingly intent on destroying the country.
Lets see what happens in Germany over the winter without cheap Russian gas, they really had to be pushed into sanctions.

Stating Brexit is one of the reasons the UK is in an economic mess is not moaning: it's a fact. Higher costs of importing goods, lack of EU citizens doing low paid work in many sectors. Yes, we are not as dependent as Germany on Russian fossil fuels, but the Ukraine war has impacted us too. Then this shitshow of a Tory government has made some deplorable decisions which have badly shaken the economy. Liz Truss didn't even understand how the energy price cap works. I doubt she comprehends other more complex financial workings.

Since the financial crash of 2007-2008 public services have taken a hit because of the austerity measures brought in and funding levels haven't recovered. Government departments have now been asked again to find savings.