High inflation is something we haven’t seen as a country for forty years. Well documented global factors are causing rising inflation and a soaring US Dollar, which has risen by roughly 20% against the Pound, Euro and Yen over the last 12 months. Higher inflation makes us all poorer and it is right that governments around the world and their financial institutions make tackling it their economic priority. Our own government’s energy price cap is estimated to be stopping a further 5% rise in inflation that would otherwise happen on top on what we already have.
The primary recent drivers of inflation have been the impact of global pent-up demand after Covid-19 shutdowns and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. However, this follows 13 years after the 2008 financial crash of Central Banks having ultra-low interest rates and pursuing a policy of so called ‘quantitative easing’, which arguably was a way of ‘printing money’, wrongly (in my opinion) thinking that there would not be long-term consequences when other inflationary pressures arose.
These 13 years of ‘cheap money’ fuelled ever more borrowing, asset bubbles in shares, property, and even in things of no intrinsic value such as so-called cryptocurrencies. I fear that the global unravelling of this will be painful, as rising interest rates revert back to their historical averages around the world.
We are seeing more people struggling with the cost of living and it is really important that no one falls between the cracks, when there is extensive support that is available for those who are struggling. West Sussex County Council is distributing £4.8 million of government funded Household Support Fund and is committed to helping residents with cost-of-living advice and support.
West Sussex County Council’s ‘Here to help - Cost of living’ webpages, provide lots of practical advice, as well as information about how to apply for extra local and national support, including from the West Sussex Community Hub. This page also links to Crawley Borough Council’s ‘Help with money worries’ web page. Just type “West Sussex here to help” on Google and it appears top of the search.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
19th October 2022
