We are one month away from the grim milestone of one year having passed, since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022. Under the dictator Putin, Russia has chosen a path of being a terrorist state and rightly being an international pariah among civilised nations.
Added to changes since the world fully re-opened post Covid, this war has spiked global inflation to levels not seen since the 1970s, although domestically we have now seen two months of inflation slightly reducing since the October high point, with predictions of more falls to come.
The cost to us here is significant, and it is a battle of resolve between the West that is supporting Ukraine and boycotting Russian oil and gas, and Russia which controls a huge amount of the world’s natural resources. We should however always remember that Ukrainians are paying with their lives every day, with millions of them suffering from intolerable conditions in cold winter weather.
Wholesale gas and oil prices are now showing sustained falls and while inflation is slowly coming down, it remains very high. Therefore, support from the Conservative government is welcome help for all of us, with more going to those in the most need such as pensioners. We are now in the fourth month of six of getting £66/67 a month off our home energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is saving families £900 this winter and will save £500 between 2023-24.
From early April, the National Living Wage will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over. This equates to an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of someone working full time on the NLW. Nationally, this is expected to benefit over two million lower paid workers and here in Crawley I’d expect many people to benefit.
Helping all workers, the government are retaining the increase in the threshold at which workers start paying National Insurance, so no National Insurance is now payable on the first £12,576 of earnings. This is just a snapshot of the extensive cost-of-living support being provided.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
25th January 2023
