Edinburgh
South Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson Fred Mackintosh has
conducted a survey of fifteen hundred households in the Inch. The key
result being that more than 80% feel less economically secure this year
than last. The survey was delivered to 2101 homes between 3 and 17
August this year. “The
recession is having a real impact in South Edinburgh” says Fred
Mackintosh “We wanted to see how job losses and price rises were
effecting a community like the Inch. It is very clear that people feel
less secure as the economic downturn bites.” When
asked about the impact of the economic crisis on their family; 80.4% of
those responding fees less secure than they did at the same time last
year. Despite press reports of ‘green shoots’ 63.3% of those in work
feel less secure in their job than in 2008. The
official Consumer Prices Index was just 1.8% up in July following on
from many months of low inflation rates in recent years. However,
those who responded to the Liberal Democrat survey 71.4% reported
noticing a significant rise in prices in the shops. Local
Councillor Conor Snowden commented, “It is important to remember that
prices of fuel, food and heating are increasing faster than other
prices. This clearly means a bigger impact on those on lower incomes
and our survey shows that.” A
key question in the survey was whether respondents had lost money when
Gordon Brown increased the tax rate on those on low incomes by
abolishing the 10p tax rate. 44.7% of those who responded had loss
money in that change. In contrast 87.5% supported Vince Cable’s plan
to stop people paying tax on the first £10,000 they earn. |
South Edinburgh News >