£8m to be lost in disposable income across Crawley over next two years

Families across Crawley are set to feel much poorer over the next two years as the Conservatives’ decisions continue to fail to either arrest the rising cost of living or help families to survive the crisis.

Now research indicates that the average household is set to lose a further £1,700 in disposable income over the next two years–adding to the £1,800 already lost under this Conservative Government–by far the largest fall on record.

For individual families, many of whom are already barely managing to get by, this new financial blow will be extremely hard to bare. Yet, it’s not only individuals who will feel the pinch, with that reduction in individual household incomes in total amounting to £8m of discretionary spending being taken out of the local economy.

With pubs, restaurants, shops and many other local businesses barely recovering from the pandemic, the knock-on effect may once again result in the closure of much loved facilities, resulting in higher unemployment and further reductions in discretionary spending.

The solution is to end the UK’s race to the bottom and get Britain growing again, combining immediate improvements–such as replacing business rates with a fairer system–with longer-term approaches–by producing a new industrial strategy and driving through a Green Prosperity Plan to bring down bills and help secure the jobs of the future. Fortunately, this is exactly what Labour is promising to deliver.