Due To Cost Of Living Concerns, Almost TWO-THIRDS Of Britons Are Rationing Heating At Home

New figures reveal that almost two-thirds of Britons say they’re taking measures to ration their heating because of the cost of living crisis.

In numbers which show the despair felt by the country about the state of its and their own finances, more than half (56 per cent) are also worried about how they will heat their homes this winter.

Numbers released by the Office for National Statistics also reveal that two-thirds have trimmed down on non-essential spending, and more than four in 10 have cut down on their food shopping.

It comes as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt prepares to give his Autumn Statement next week which is expected to include tax rises and public spending cuts.

Last week the Bank of England warned the United Kingdom faced the latest slump in more than a century.

The ONS found that the cost of living remains the area of biggest concern to voters.

More than nine in 10 (93 per cent) said it was an important issue, compared to the NHS (82 per cent), the economy generally (79 per cent) and climate change (66 per cent).

Some 91 per cent of those polled said their cost of living had increased in the past year, with 77 per cent noticing an upsurge in the past month.

Almost half (47 per cent) said they didn’t expect to be able to save any money in the next year.

The most common actions

The most common actions reported by all adults because of the rising cost of living were spending less on non-essentials and using less gas and electricity at home.

Also, about half (46 per cent) of adults with a mortgage reported being extremely or moderately concerned about changes in mortgage interest rates.

Jeremy Hunt warned of a difficult road ahead as it revealed the economy went into reverse in the third quarter.

The Chancellor suggested he’s engaged in a damage limitation exercise after a 0.2 per cent fall in GDP between July and September, saying his Autumn Statement aims to make any recession quicker and shallower.

The figure wasn’t as bad as feared, after the Bank of England and analysts pencilled in a 0.5 per cent contraction for the UK plc in the three months. However, it suggests the UK might already be in a downturn, technically defined as two consecutive quarters of decline.

Many people are worried about putting their heating on, and some still haven’t put their heating on at all and are just carrying a hot water bottle around with them.

It’s getting colder now and just getting up in the morning to go to the bathroom, it’s freezing and those people that don’t have a tumble dryer or do have one and can’t use it, clothes are taking ages to dry, and we haven’t even reached the really cold spell yet.

It’s almost like we’ve regressed as a society by almost 80 years, and our Government need to do something about this, especially now that they’re making record profits, and the people of the UK deserve better than this.

What we must avoid here is our elderly and vulnerable being left to freeze to death. Many elderly and vulnerable will die this winter because they won’t be able to afford to put their heating on.

So far this winter the weather has been rather mild for this time of the year, but still cold since we had such a hot summer, but the coldest months are yet to come with January and February approaching, along with a proper cold snap which will probably be quite brutal.