‘A drop in the ocean’: Birmingham responds to Sunak’s mini-budget

Hodge Hill has the highest fuel poverty rate in England, and many were looking to the chancellor for a lifeline

In the nine years she has volunteered at the Ward End Elim church food bank in Birmingham's Hodge Hill, Pat Woolridge has never known so many people to be struggling.

The constituency in the east of Birmingham has the highest fuel poverty rate in England at 27.4%, much higher than the national average of 13.4%, so many were hoping for a lifeline in Rishi Sunak's spring budget announcement on Wednesday.