Vulnerable UK Women Forced into ‘Sex for Rent’ by Cost of Living Crisis

THE OBSERVER: Some women are turning to escort work to meet basic housing costs, charities warn

Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.

Charities warn rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.

Sex for rent – when landlords demand sex in return for discounted or free accommodation – is a growing problem as economic conditions tighten, they said, with perpetrators using it as a tool to abuse and control.

It is particularly an issue among migrant women and asylum seekers, the Observer understands. The crisis is also making it harder for those trying to leave abusive relationships. » | Miranda Bryant | Saturday, April 29, 2023

What are the Tories tryng to turn this country into? This is an appalling situation. A coronation which the government can find £100m to finance, yet it is keeping ordinary people so short that they have to ‘sell their sexual services’ to live! This is an absolute disgrace. Shameful! Absolutely shameful! Sunak and his Tory chums should hang their heads in shame. – © Mark Alexander

Liz Truss Cost of Living Crisis Policies Would Make Inflation Worse | Economics | New Statesman

Aug 31, 2022 Liz truss has shown a "complete failure" to address the inflation driven UK cost of living crisis, says economist Duncan Weldon.

Economist and Journalist Duncan Weldon speaks to the New Statesman's Will Dunn to discuss his cover story in the latest issue of the New Statesman magazine, titled "The coming economic storm: As inflation reaches a 40-year high and with Britain facing a punishing recession, the Conservative leadership contenders have failed to grasp the scale of the crisis."

Economist and Journalist Duncan Weldon speaks to the New Statesman's Will Dunn to discuss his cover story in the latest issue of the New Statesman magazine, titled "The coming economic storm: As inflation reaches a 40-year high and with Britain facing a punishing recession, the Conservative leadership contenders have failed to grasp the scale of the crisis."

‘Nobody Is In Charge’: Tory Peer Hits Out at Ministers over Inflation

THE GUARDIAN: As rate reaches double digits, Stuart Rose calls lack of government action to shield households ‘horrifying’

The veteran retailer Stuart Rose has urged the government to do more to shield the poorest from double-digit inflation, describing the lack of action as “horrifying”, with a prime minister “on shore leave” leaving a situation where “nobody is in charge”.

Responding to July’s 10.1% headline rate, the Conservative peer and Asda chair said: “We have been very, very slow in recognising this train coming down the tunnel and it’s run quite a lot of people over and we now have to deal with the aftermath.”

Attacking a lack of leadership while Boris Johnson is away on holiday, he said: “We’ve got to have some action. The captain of the ship is on shore leave, right, nobody’s in charge at the moment.”

Lord Rose, who is a former boss of Marks & Spencer, said action was needed to kill “pernicious” inflation, which he said “erodes wealth over time”. He dismissed claims by the Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss’s camp that it would be possible for the UK to grow its way out of the crisis. » | Joanna Partridge | Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Worried about Bills This Winter? In Truss’s Titanic Economics, Only the Rich Will Get a Life Raft

THE GUARDIAN: With a national catastrophe looming, the Tory leadership candidates have adopted a muscular ‘anti-welfare’ stance

As millions of families get ready to choose between starving and freezing, the biggest question in British politics right now is what government support is going to come in the next few months, and who exactly is going to get help. With Boris Johnson’s “out of office” on, and the current chancellor missing in action, it is left to the Tory leadership candidates to play at governing. On Sunday, the all but guaranteed victor, Liz Truss, announced she would “rush through” her £30bn worth of tax cuts six months earlier than planned, to “tackle the cost of living crisis”.

It doesn’t take an economist to realise that, far from “tackling the cost of living crisis”, introducing tax cuts is a dire way to target support: it just adds more cash to upper middle-class families’ pockets while the very poorest – many of whom pay little or no income tax – don’t benefit. Just look at the details of Truss’s £30bn cut: £19bn of it would go not to struggling families, but to businesses skirting corporation tax rises. Indeed, even Truss’s plan to scrap the national insurance rise would benefit the wealthiest: 85% of the £8bn cost would go to the top half of earners. It is Titanic economics, where the country is sinking and only the rich get a life raft. » | Frances Ryan | Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Liz Truss is a cipher! When it comes to economics, she is a know-nothing. The country will be mad to trust its economy on her. She is the marionette of the superrich. She cares not a jot for the poor or even middle class. She aims to please the rich and powerful, and the rich and powerful alone. – © Mark Alexander

Liz Truss doubles down on refusal to offer support over rising energy bills: Foreign secretary previously said she did not want to give ‘handouts’ to people struggling with cost of living »

The Guardian View on the Dog Days of Boris Johnson’s Premiership: Crises, Which Crises?

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: As the Conservative party talks to itself, a chance to grip the challenges of the autumn and winter is being wasted

‘Boris Johnson appears to have washed his hands of a country facing stagflation and looming recession.’ Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
The sweltering summer continues to deliver ominous headlines, all pointing to the perfect storm that seems certain to break in the autumn. A new study from York University predicts that, by January 2023, more than half of UK households could be in fuel poverty, spending over 10% of net income on energy costs. The health secretary, Stephen Barclay, admits that the NHS may be unable to cope with a likely Covid wave, seasonal flu and the health impact of the cost of living crisis. Charities, which successive Conservative governments have relied on to prop up one of the meanest social safety nets in Europe, are struggling to meet soaring demand for basics as their own finances are hit by the economic squeeze. » | Editorial | Monday, August 8, 2022

Johnson accused of allowing ‘summer of drift’ amid cost of living crisis: Business leaders urge PM to act as No 10 says there are no plans to address crisis until next Tory leader is voted in »

Gordon Brown: ‘Set emergency budget or risk a winter of dire poverty’: Former PM has warned of a financial timebomb awaiting families as Labour plans a major intervention to address crisis »

Liz Truss Rejects ‘Handouts’ as Way to Tackle Cost of Living Crisis

THE GUARDIAN: Conservative leadership frontrunner insists on tax cuts despite claims they will fuel inflation

Liz Truss at an event at Solihull Moors FC, as part of the Conservative leadership campaign.Photograph: Jacob King/PA
The Conservative leadership frontrunner, Liz Truss, has rejected “handouts” as a way of helping people affected by the cost of living crisis.

Truss said she would press ahead with proposed tax cuts despite claims they would fuel inflation and “kiss goodbye” to the Conservatives’ chances of winning the next election.

With mounting pressure as households face a financial squeeze, the foreign secretary rejected handouts and insisted on tax cuts costing more than £30bn as the country spirals towards a recession.

“Of course I will look at what more can be done,” Truss told the Financial Times. “But the way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.” » | Geneva Abdul | Saturday, August 6, 2022

Clearly, Liz Truss doesn’t understand even basic economics. Tax cuts are not going to help the poor or the struggling middle class get through these tough times. Doesn’t she know that a person earning less than £12,570 per annum doesn’t pay any tax anyway; so how are tax cuts going to help these people get through this crisis?

Tax cuts are wrong for the economic crisis we are in. First of all, tax cuts would help the rich and better off and not the poor and under-privileged, and secondly, even if they were to help at the margin, it would take a long time for any benefits of tax cuts to filter through. So, what are the working poor going to do in the interim? Starve and/or freeze to death? Get a grip, Madame! – G Mark Alexander

Foreign Secretary Says We Are in a 'Very Serious Situation' as Inflation Hits 40-year High

May 18, 2022 • The Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says there's no doubt the current situation is "very difficult for people across the UK" as inflation rises to highest level since 1982.

On the windfall tax she says it "makes it more difficult to secure future investment into the UK" with the cost of living continuing to rise.