More than a decade with no wage growth has left many people vulnerable.

Two-thirds of adults in poverty are in work. This proportion has been rising over time and has never been as high as it is now.

In 2020 to 2021, one in seven UK families reported having no savings. A further two out of seven families reported that their savings were £1,500 or less.

Taken together, 42% of families had either no savings or investments, or less than £1,500. Even among families where everyone is in full-time work, almost 40% have less than £1,500 in savings

Workers in sectors characterised by low pay are more likely to be in poverty – almost one in four accommodation and food services workers are in in-work poverty.

Around 5million workers are paid below the Real Living Wage. There has been little improvement on this figure in a decade.

Although low-paid workers come from all backgrounds and parts of the country, some are more likely to be paid less than the Real Living Wage.

Women, who hold 60% of all jobs paid below the Real Living Wage.

More than a million retail and wholesale workers, and almost 900,000 accommodation and food service workers, are paid below the Real Living Wage.

More than a third of workers in the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors, and more than a quarter in admin and support services, are paid below the Real Living Wage.

40% of young people now spend over a third of their income on rent.

The economy the Conservatives have presided over for 12 years is fundamentally unprepared for the cost-of-living crisis.

Last week the Office for National Statistics confirmed that in June the rate of inflation hit 10.1%. This is the highest we have seen for 40 years.

Energy prices are a major factor in this record inflation.

With the energy price cap set to increase not once, but twice, in the coming months; many Cherwell residents are facing the prospect of a winter in the cold.

The charity Age UK has gone so far as to warn that pensioners will die if something does not change, and soon.

Last week the Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, set out what he would do.

We can’t continue making working people pay whatever the big energy companies demand. So Labour would stop the price cap going up. That would save people £1,000 this winter. And we would invest in sustainable, home-grown energy to bring bills down in the long-term.

Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party respectively, this weekend committed to a revamp of the remit of the Low Pay Commission so that more people are paid a Real Living Wage.

The Conservatives, consumed with a bitter leadership contest, currently have no answers as the colder weather approaches.

Locally too, Labour is setting the agenda. Fresh from pushing Cherwell to commit to tackling food poverty in July, we have come up with a 3 point plan for the leader of the council to do more to help residents worried about the cost of heating their homes.

And we are calling on the district council to get more affordable homes built on new build sites.

The cost-of-living crisis is deeply alarming and many of you are rightly worried. But I want to reassure all of you; Cherwell’s Labour team are on your side.