It seems a little odd writing a local political column at the moment when the war on Ukraine is unfolding daily before our eyes. In my living memory I can only recall two such serious incidents before – the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Then, wise heads in both the west and east stepped back from the brink, probably due to the fact that they had lived through and/or served in the Second World War and knew what a catastrophe war in general is, and a nuclear war in particular could be. We can only hope for the same good sense today although none of the current world leaders have experienced the same experience lived experience as their predecessors.

Returning to domestic and local issues seems to pale in comparison but the problems people are facing here are far from trivial. The pressures on families nationally and locally from the cost of living crisis are real and likely to get worse. I referred in a previous article to the increase in rail fares for commuters in Bicester – the biggest increase in 10 years – but on top of that we have food and petrol costs rising and interest rate increases will severely affect housing costs for both owners and renters. Next month, taxation in the form of both Council Tax and National Insurance will go up and on top of that, we have a local tax –  called somewhat quaintly a subscription service – on collecting and recycling our garden waste. The basis for this decision by Cherwell Council is that collection of garden waste is not mandated under the Environment Act 2021 and they may charge if they do. Watch out for an increase in fly tipping around the town and villages?

Despite the softening of the £20 per week cut to Universal Credit by the Government  at the end of last year, the higher cost of living which has emerged since Christmas  will affect all families and wipes out any relief poorer families might have enjoyed, however slight. More seriously, the doubling in domestic fuel prices  and hike in the price cap by 54% in April and possibly even more to come in October when the annual cap is fixed will affect all families. A story far from common locally is of fuel companies doubling monthly direct debits and/or imposing immediate charges to recoup deficits on accounts, in one case which came to my attention, of over £800 in one month!

Wages are unlikely to rise by anything like enough to enable families to manage these increases in costs. Before the cost of living started to rise, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that the minimum income the public at large then thought a family of 4 needed to survive on was £500 per week after tax. Many families have to survive on far less already and the outcome will inevitably  put more pressure on Bicester’s food bank and see an increase in child poverty.

But it is not all doom and gloom. Readers will be delighted to know that our MP will enjoy an increase in her basic MPs salary of £2200 a year from April in return for what the ‘independent’ body which makes these awards said was a “dramatic increase” in MPs duties. Clearly something I’ve failed to notice over the last 12 month unless we include the numerous parties or ‘work events’ which had to be organised over the last two years. A world away from the lived experience of Bicester residents.

First published as a Bicester Advertiser column by Chris Howells, Chair of Bicester Branch, Banbury and Bicester Constituency Labour Party