Britain’s struggling low-income shoppers challenge growth agenda

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Southampton: Deb Taylor emerged empty -handed from the branch of his budget fashion retailer Primark in Southampton, southern England, complaining that “even cheap goods are not cheap”.

The 63 -year -old cleaner was echoed by Antonia Eldon, the mother of the three living home, who was on a rare shopping trip in search of a birthday gift. The 30 -year -old said, “In addition, I don’t even bother to go to the shops.” Both women are struggling to complete months after months of inflation and energy bills, and are a sign of a reduction in trust and costs among low -income buyers shown after the British survey.

Although the lower part of the houses through income is only a tenth of the UK’s consumer costs, their hesitation or incompetence in opening their wallets has occurred for a government that has made development its top priority, and non There is also a logical threat. The Labor Party, which was elected last July, is already under pressure from the Nigel Ferridge’s right -wing reform party, which is successful in targeting the British who are left behind.

Financial tensions are also bad news for low -rich buyers who rely on the retailers, including Primark, Districts Poundland and B&MB, Baker Gregs and SportsWare Group JD Sports are struggling in all Christmas quarters. On the contrary, the retailers of the middle market, such as Marx & Spencer and Next, performed well. “Clearly there is a huge disparity between them nor the notes,” said Neil Belimi, director of market research firm GFK, and it seems that it does not happen in the beginning of 2025. “

Dashid hopes

Many business officials hoped that the Labor sliding victory after the 14 -year -old conservative rule as a result of his departure from the European Union would bring some stability to the United Kingdom. But in October, his first budget announcement, with a tax raid of 25 billion pounds ($ 31 billion) on companies to provide funds for investment and public services, left them railing.

Although interest rates are slowly coming down and the revenue adjustments for inflation have been increasing at more than 20 years, the job market has weakened and the economy is flattened. Retailers warned about rising prices due to higher prices, the Bank of England sees the total inflation rising by 3.7 % this year, and employers have said they are expected to impose salary awards. Do

The UK has used its minimum wage to support the long -term minimum salaries and has since increased by about 50 % since then – but still, in energy and food costs The massive increase has affected the lowest salary difficulty. Budget did not help: “If there is any uncertainty for the elements of the society, unemployment and part -time work are also challenged,” said Evan Tonage, the finance director of British Foods, affiliated with primary parents. From. “

This pressure can be seen in the monthly income tracker of the supermarket group ASDA and the Center for Economics and Business Research, which is calculated on how much the UK’s families have spent after paying taxes and bills. High and middle -income households saw an increase in their weekly disposable income in December, which is 9.9 % higher by year, 894 pounds ($ 1,111) for highly wealthy and 18.6 for those living in the middle The percentage is. But the 20 % of the UK’s lowest earning household has decreased by 0.3 %, which is reduced by 70 pounds each week. GFK said the level of confidence in households less than 14,500 pounds in January fell from 11 points to the January survey, minus 46.

On the contrary, homes have more than 50,000 pounds. Minus 1 saw only four points. The next few months, and more than half of the less food.

In money problems, concerns about employment protection have increased. Supermarket groups Tesco, Sensbury and Moryson have announced a 3,600 job reduction in recent weeks. John Jones, who operates shop and online store Philip Morris and Sons in West England’s Herford, can cut two of his 22 staff because of the budget changes in its annual costs from April to April 100 , Faced £ £ Jump. “When you have not already got any growth, and maybe there is no possibility of its growth because consumers are not feeling confident, then there is a lot of money in searching,” he said. Outside the primer, Aldin has been brakes for a hard year: “I’m not seeing that it’s getting better.”