The Observer view on Britain’s growing cost of living crisis | Observer editorial
The Bank of England last week published a set of grim economic forecasts that project inflation will peak at over 7% this year and real household incomes will fall by an average of 1,000 by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the energy price cap will have risen by hundreds of pounds over the same period. Without another Covid wave, it is the cost of living crisis and particularly its impact on families already struggling to meet their rent, put food on the table and pay their heating bills that will dominate people's lives in the next two years.
Yet Boris Johnson remains mired in the depths of political crisis, debilitated in his role as prime minister, while his potential successors are more concerned with their campaigns to succeed him than addressing the challenges faced by the country. Westminster politics reached a new nadir when, in order to try to shift focus from his own woes, he falsely accused Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute the child abuser Jimmy Savile, a made-up allegation with no grounds in reality. Savile's victims have spoken out about their distress at seeing their abuse politicised by the prime minister in this way and the unfounded slur prompted the resignation of his long-serving policy chief, Munira Mirza, who accused him of scurrilous" behaviour.
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