A POLL shows that more people in Bradford are skipping meals and going without food than the national average.

The poll of 10,000 people reveals how the cost of living emergency is hitting family budgets in every single parliamentary constituency – and that more government action is needed to raise wages and cut bills.

The research – carried out for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) by Opinium – shows that one in seven (14%) people across the UK are having to skip meals or go without food to make ends meet.

Three constituencies in the Bradford district - Bradford West (18.19%), Bradford East (17.88%) and Bradford South (16.79%) - have figures that are higher than the national average of people missing meals or going without food.

In the Keighley and Shipley constituencies, those figures are 12.27% and 10.82%, respectively. The proportion of people across the UK skipping meals is the same for people in work and people out of work (14%).

The survey also reveals that over two-fifths (44%) of Britons are having to cut back on food spending.

Bradford West is also significantly higher than the national average with more than half (51.34%) of people cutting back on their food shop.

Other Bradford area constituencies - Bradford East (45.47%), Keighley (43.98%), Shipley (43.89%) and Bradford South (41.17%) - were just above or below the national average on cutting back on food spending.

The poll - published in the same week the government reduced long-term support for energy bills - shows households across Britain are still deeply worried about rising bills.

Bradford West (15.65%) is nearly twice the national average (8%) with people who miss a payment on a household bill.

Bradford East (11.86%) and Bradford South (9.37%) are also higher than average while Keighley and Ilkey and Shipley sit at 7.02% and 5.94%, respectively.

Over half (55%) of the population is cutting back on heating, hot water and electricity.

In the Bradford district, the poll shows that 60.05% of Shipley constituents are cutting back on the amount of hot water, heating and electricity that they use.

Keighley and Ilkley has the second highest rate in the district at 58.87%.

Bradford West (55.37%), Bradford East (54.01%) and Bradford South (53.16%) are just above or below the national average.

The TUC says the findings were a “stark reminder” of the cost of living pressures facing households throughout the UK.

The union body says the government must:

• Stick to plans to uprate universal credit, benefits and pensions in line with inflation, and bring forward this uprating to before April. This must be the first step on a route to higher levels of universal credit, benefits and pensions.

• Impose a much higher windfall tax on oil and gas companies

• Get pay rising across the economy by backing trade unions and allowing unions to negotiate pay rises across whole sectors

• Give key workers in the public sector cost-of-living proofed pay rises

• Raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour as soon as possible.

Today’s poll reveals that nearly seven in 10 Britons back raising the minimum wage to £15 an hour.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “No one should have to worry about putting food on the table or heating their homes.

“But millions of families are struggling to cover even the basics, and now face huge uncertainty over their energy bills after the Chancellor said support may end in April.

“This polling lays bare Britain’s cost of living emergency.

“Food and energy bills are soaring, but real wages are plummeting.

“Unless we get pay rising across the economy – and ensure benefits rise in line with inflation - we risk heading towards Victorian levels of poverty.

“The Conservatives should be working with unions to help households get through this crisis. But they want to make it harder for working people to win better pay and conditions.”

On the need to boost wages, Frances added: “Ministers need to get money into people’s pockets.

“That’s the best way to boost spending in local economies and to deliver lasting growth.”

 

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