Citizens Advice says solutions to tackle falling living standards are missing in action from this election campaign.
The warning comes as polling commissioned by the charity shows more than half of voters aren’t hopeful that living standards will improve after the election on 4 July.
Citizens Advice found 43% of UK voters say it’s more difficult to afford essentials than it was six months ago, despite falling inflation and suggestions that the economy is beginning to pick up.
The charity has also released more of its own frontline data, revealing a dramatic increase in people it has helped with living standards issues since 2019, the year of the last general election:
221% increase in those requiring food bank referrals or emergency support,113% jump in people helped because they’ve fallen behind on energy bills and three times as many working people helped with access to food banks or emergency support.
No wonder then that nearly 48% of voters cited the cost of living or living standards as one of the most important factors influencing their vote, ranking second only to health and the NHS (58%) and ahead of immigration (31%) and even the economy (28%).
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“This is the living standards election. Voters will judge the next government on what they’ll do to tackle this.
“We’re still helping someone every five seconds with a cost-of-living issue. That’s too many barely treading water, unable to move forward with their lives, and constantly worried about the next bill dragging them under completely.
“Tackling falling living standards requires more than just lip service. It’s vital we see action that’ll make a genuine difference to people’s lives within the first 100 days of a new government.”
