The Guardian view on the cost of living crisis: Labour needs creative solutions

theguardian.com:

T he sharp fall in disposable income among UK households has been blamed on the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems and Conservative policies. It is a product of all these things. But it is also a symptom of a longer decline in living standards that predates them. In response, both the Conservatives and Labour have proposed variations on the same programme of growth and jobs. Yet what if this emphasis is neglecting another essential area: the everyday goods and services that we all depend upon?

This is the argument advanced by academics in a new book, When Nothing Works. Living standards aren’t just determined by income or wage growth – they also depend upon people’s access to essential infrastructure and services, such as housing, transport and energy. Rather than ensuring that these goods are available and affordable to everyone, the government has instead fixated on work as the main route for lifting people out of poverty. Its punitive benefits system has pushed more people into low-paid work but has not protected them from falling below the minimum needed to survive. Meanwhile, because many essential services have been outsourced to the market, their costs have escalated – and households are struggling.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the dysfunctional rental market. Government spending on housing benefit has risen by around 40% since the mid-1990s, yet this has not prevented people from falling into poverty. So long as landlords continue to drive up rents and social housing remains scarce, private renters will be playing catch-up, and the government will either have to accept an ever-increasing housing benefit bill or leave people exposed to high housing costs. It has opted for the latter, freezing local housing