There’s nothing more fundamental to most people’s lives than their ability to provide for themselves and their families. But it is proving more difficult than ever.  New analysis suggests too many people in Crawley may be skipping meals or eating less thanks to the deepening cost of living crisis.

The Resolution Foundation research, that suggests nearly a fifth of people are affected in this way, comes as new figures show food inflation at a staggering 19.1% – its fastest pace in 40 years.  This is creating astonishing pressures on personal finances – and families in Crawley are paying the price.

Almost a fifth of us have now been forced to miss out meals or eat less – that is a disgrace, yet our out of touch government is asleep at the wheel. The Tories helped get us in to this mess by crashing the economy, but Labour will get us out of it.

A Labour government would support local families fully funded through a proper windfall tax on the bumper profits of oil and gas giants, and a clear mission to get Britain’s economy growing at the fastest rate on the G7 – making the entire country better off.

Labour would also cut energy bills for domestic food manufacturers and processors, with a fund for energy intensive industries. In the long-term, we would generate more home-grown, clean energy like renewables.

Labour would also reverse the Conservative decision to hand the richest 1% of pension savers a £1 billion pound handout while ordinary people are struggling, and instead introduce specific measures to keep doctors in work.

We’d also close the non-dom tax loophole, so people who live and work here pay their tax here, and use that money to fund one of the biggest expansions of the NHS workforce in history and Breakfast Clubs at every primary school.

We need to break the Tory Government’s high tax, low growth trap which leaves family finances in a chokehold.  There is an alternative with Labour, one that makes every part of the country better off.  We need to take it.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council