Mother-of-four left in tears at having to choose between food or gas
A mother-of-four has described how she “broke down in tears” having to pick between food and gas, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to pile pressure on families.
Phoenix, who chose not to disclose her surname, from Crystal Palace in south-east London, said her children are being denied simple things like sweets due to the cost.
The 33-year-old told the PA news agency:
There’s been so many times where I’ve just broken down in tears because of having to choose between gas or food.
My children are being denied the small things in life, like having a sweet from the shop. It’s not nice having to say no to your children.
It has affected my emotional wellbeing… it’s enough to make you not want to be here anymore.
Read on...
Government “not helping”
She relies on benefits and said the rising cost of living has affected everything, including her children’s education:
I’ve gone without gas for three or four days because I’ve gone from putting on £10-£15 a week, to having to put on £30-£40 every four days
That is a lot of money to be putting on, the rising costs just affect everything in your life, whether you’re on benefits or not.
Even with petrol, £20 used to get me around 100 miles but these days I get around 70-80 miles maximum and then it’s gone.
She also said:
I have a lot of health problems at the moment and I’ve had days where I have to walk my kids to school which has made them late, or they’ve had to miss whole days.
Households are facing soaring energy bills, inflation is forecast to hit 10% and welfare payments and wages are falling far behind the increase in prices.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister came under fire over a lack of short-term measures in the Queen’s Speech to help people facing soaring costs.
In response, he warned the Government cannot “completely shield” people from the rising cost of living.
Phoenix said the lack of support has left her feeling “helpless” and she criticised the Government.
She said:
I feel like (the Government) is not helping and I feel like they are playing games with us.
I think if they had kept to their promises up until now, we probably wouldn’t even be in this situation, but they always give us false hope.
I’ll be so honest, if I had known everything I know now back then, I probably would have chosen not to have children.
I feel helpless and I wouldn’t want them to live this life.
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
We need to realise that government policy is that it wants to force her to starve two of her children to death.