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Unions call for end of ‘rampant profiteering’ as pre-Christmas food inflation remains at 9.2%

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unions-call-for-end-of-rampant-profiteering-as-pre-christmas-food-inflation-remains-at-9

Shoppers in a supermarket, October 15, 2021

UNIONS called for an end to “rampant profiteering” as official figures showed food inflation remains at a painfully high 9.2 per cent in the run-up to Christmas.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said yesterday’s larger-than-expected drop in overall inflation would not offset the real-terms fall in wages this Christmas.

She said: “Headline inflation might be slowing, but workers know their wages aren’t going as far as they did two years ago.

“Even the competition regulator now admits what Unite has said all along: that firms have been exploiting the cost-of-living crisis to raise prices excessively.

“It’s time the government and Bank of England tackled the rampant profiteering in our economy to get inflation under control.”

Responding to the figures showing CPI inflation slowing to 3.9 per cent and RPI inflation to 5.3 per cent, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak added: “Today’s inflation figures will provide scant relief for hard-pressed families. Prices are still going up — just a bit more slowly.

“Household budgets remain under immense pressure. And many families will struggle with the cost of Christmas, with food and energy bills sky high.”

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unions-call-for-end-of-rampant-profiteering-as-pre-christmas-food-inflation-remains-at-9

Post author:dizzy
Post published:21 December 2023
Post category:austerity Austerity 2 conservatives Cost of Living crisis politics trade unionism
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Homeless people urinated on and attacked with bricks, shocking survey shows

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/homeless-people-urinated-and-attacked-bricks-shocking-survey-shows

Person sleeping rough in a doorway, February 7, 2017

SHOCKING levels of violence and abuse are being faced by homeless people, a new survey finds.

Rough sleepers are frequently attacked, urinated on, verbally abused and have bricks and beer cans thrown at them, according to homelessness charity Crisis.

The charity spoke to 156 people in late summer who had rough sleeping experience within the last two years.

It found that 90 per cent of them had experienced some form of violence or abuse and 51 per cent had been physically attacked.

Three-quarters cruelly had items stolen, while 72 per cent had suffered verbal abuse or harassment.

More than half (53 per cent) had something thrown at them, examples given included bricks and beer cans.

More than a quarter had been racially abused, harassed or attacked (27 per cent), while almost a fifth (18 per cent) had been urinated on.

Nine of those who responded said they had been sexually assaulted.

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/homeless-people-urinated-and-attacked-bricks-shocking-survey-shows

Post author:dizzy
Post published:21 December 2023
Post category:austerity conservatives Cost of Living crisis politics
Post comments:0 Comments

Revealed: Where up to a quarter of your water bill is really going

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/12/revealed-where-up-to-a-quarter-of-your-water-bill-is-really-going/

It’s been branded ‘daylight robbery’

An investigation by the Guardian published today has revealed that staggering proportions of the public’s water bills are used to service private water firms’ debt. According to the paper’s analysis of financial data over a quarter of some water companies’ revenue goes on servicing debt.

The UK’s largest water firm, Thames Water, uses an astonishing 28 per cent of its revenue to service debt. Southern Water and South East Water both also use more than a quarter of their revenue for the same purpose.

Almost the entirety of water company revenue is made up of customer bills. As of March, the private water firms in England had racked up combined debts of more than £60 billion. Meanwhile, since privatisation of water in England in 1989, private water companies have paid out over £70 billion in dividends to shareholders.

The Guardian notes that Scottish Water, which remains publicly owned, spent just 10 per cent of its revenues financing its debt, less than all of the private water firms in England.

The revelations have led to a furious public backlash and renewed calls for England’s water to be taken back into public ownership.

Labour peer and Left Foot Forward columnist Prem Sikka branded the situation as ‘daylight robbery’, saying that money had been ‘borrowed to pay dividends, and that ‘companies want more from captive customers’.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/12/revealed-where-up-to-a-quarter-of-your-water-bill-is-really-going/

dizzy: This ridiculous situation is on the Conservatives watch …

Post author:dizzy
Post published:19 December 2023
Post category:austerity Austerity 2 conservatives Cost of Living crisis politics
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Starmer offers more austerity pain for Britain

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Keir Starmer sucking up to the rich and powerful at World Economic Forum, Davos.

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/starmer-offers-more-austerity-pain-for-britain

Labour ‘won’t turn on spending taps’ leader says in speech to woo big business

AUSTERITY is Labour’s economic agenda, … Keir Starmer announced today in a further lurch to the right.

A Labour government will not “turn on the spending taps,” the Labour leader said in remarks aimed at appeasing the City and the Treasury.

He acknowledged that public services are “on their knees” but offered little prospect of getting them back on their feet again.

… Keir has prioritised bringing down debt and has vowed not to increase taxes on business or the wealthy, leaving himself no room to repair the damage wrought by 15 years of capitalist crisis.

This latest dilution of Labour’s plans for government came just a day after Sir Keir went out of his way to praise former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher for shaking Britain out of its “stupor.”

A Momentum spokesperson said today that “these are deeply worrying remarks from Keir Starmer.

“Instead of laying out a popular alternative based on public ownership and public investment, the Labour leadership is adopting the Tories’ failed economic approach.

“Starmer’s stance isn’t just out of touch with Labour members and voters — but with the public too.”

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/starmer-offers-more-austerity-pain-for-britain