Boris Johnson can’t blame Covid for the hardship that lies ahead; deliberate choices by Tory ministers have also played their part
Queues at the pumps, shortages in supermarkets, energy companies going bust and chemotherapy being cancelled due to staff shortages. Welcome to Britain in 2021. Some of this disruption has clearly been caused by a pandemic exerting pressures on supply chains, workforces and healthcare systems all over the world. But Boris Johnson’s political choices have only acted to make Covid’s impact on the national infrastructure far worse.
The lines at petrol stations may be driven more by panic buying than real fuel shortages. But panic buying can become a self-fulfilling prophecy and it is a sign of a more anxious national mood as Britain heads into winter. Food prices are forecast to increase by more than 5% in the coming months. And the government is persisting with plans to cut financial support for low-paid parents by more than £1,000 a year this autumn. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has estimated that the typical low-income family will be £1,750 a year worse off by next April as a result of all these changes. This is a huge amount to lose for parents already struggling to keep their children warm and well fed, the difference between just about getting by and entering into a miserable downward spiral of debt and poverty.