A winter of discontent is coming
for the United Kingdom.
Today, the first in what will be
weeks of nationwide strikes
began across multiple
professions, from ambulance
crews to border officers, all in
protest of skyrocketing living
costs.
And as the days get colder, many
are faced with a terrible
choice -- heat the home, or feed
the family?
From whitehawk, one of the
poorest districts of Brighton on
the south coast, special
correspondent Malcolm brabant
reports.
Malcolm: Sue is cooking up 300
hearty meals.
Her kitchen is the vanguard of
the fight against hunger.
In this social housing complex
and beyond, millions of Britons
are forced to cut back on food
and warmth.
>> It's made for these people
that are what I call the
forgotten people.
People don't care, but we do.
That's the main thing.
Malcolm: Janet Cronin's
nonprofit provides home
deliveries because the local
authority can no longer afford
to run the service.
What's your assessment about how
bad the cost-of-living crisis
is?
>> Pretty bad.
You can't even have your heating
on.
Do I need, do I put the heating
on?
I am the same, I have not had
the heating on much.
Malcolm: Food price increases
are the sharpest in 30 years and
this hits the poorest hardest
because proportionally they
spend more income on food than
the better off.
Single mother Natosha is heading
for a handout.
Once a music business executive,
she fell on hard times and into
the red.
A nonprofit Christians against
poverty helped to get debt
collectors offer back.
Despite working part time, she
has relied on food banks and the
advice of a debt coach.
>> Two kids?
How do you see things like
Christmas?
>> I am dreading it.
Malcolm: What would you say the
situation is?
>> I can't imagine how some of
these people survive.
We can blame the economic
situation, the war in Europe,
but they are not going to go
away anytime soon.
Malcolm: The dosha is not alone.
A recent survey showed if most
working Britons lost their jobs,
they would survive financially
for on the 19 days.
Demand for food banks is up this
year and many are struggling
because donations are down.
What's it like going to a food
bank?
>> It's embarrassing.
When I first started going, I
would be looking at the floor
because I didn't want anyone to
see me.
Then I realized a lot of people
I know have started using the
food bank and it's not so
embarrassing.
I don't really care anymore that
I go to a food bank.
Malcolm: What sort of difference
does it make to you?
>> Really big difference.
Like your real kind of staple.
It's like, you know, pasta
, washing powder, liquid bleach,
shower gel.
They shouldn't really be
luxuries, but they are.
Malcolm: It isn't just the poor
who're drowning.
Those in the middle-income
bracket are running faster to
stand still or even go
backwards.
Britain's recent financial
turbulence pushed mortgage
interest rates to their highest
level in 14 years.
>> A lot of families are
genuinely terrified if they're
looking at increases of over
$1000 per month U.K. Equivalent,
then I think they just can't
find that money.
They don't know where they're
going to find it from.
Malcolm: Sam Murphy's
consultancy is called mortgage
medics.
But in this climate, there's no
available cure.
>> The typical mortgage payment
might be about 20 $500,000 per
month.
-- Might be about $2500 per
month.
And a lot of people, when
they're coming to the end of
their deals at the moment,
they're looking at their
payments going up by 40, 50,
60%.
Some even as much as doubling.
Malcolm: As he tried to balance
Britain's books, treasury chief
Jeremy hunt targeted middle
income and wealthier households
with the highest taxes since
World War II, fully aware his
budget would send living
standards plunging to record
lows.
>> There is a global energy
crisis, a global inflation
crisis and a global economic
crisis.
But the British people are
tough, inventive, and
resourceful.
Malcolm: Some of the $67 billion
hole in Britain's finances was
created by the fiscal
mismanagement of conservative
premier Liz truss, kicked out
after just six weeks.
The cost of government borrowing
and imports shot up.
But there's another significant
reason why there is a shortfall
-- Britain's decision to leave
the European union, it's biggest
trading partner.
>> Independent empirical work
suggests that as a result of
Brexit, uk gdp is of the order
of 3% to 5% lower than it would
have been otherwise.
Malcolm: Michael gasiorek is
director of the uk trade policy
observatory.
>> Economically we are taking a
hit and there's no doubt that we
are taking a hit.
But there are political reasons
for wanting to make that
decision, which is to do with
sovereignty.
So it becomes a trade off.
Malcolm: Recent suggestions that
Britain might seek a closer
relationship with Europe have
been dismissed by rishi sunak,
the country's third prime
minister in the past six months.
>> I believe in Brexit and I
know that Brexit can deliver and
is already delivering enormous
benefits and opportunities for
the country.
>> I think Britain is very
broken.
I think it's a banana republic.
It's not all about business and
it's not this trickle down.
It doesn't trickle to anywhere.
It trickles into a yacht or a
holiday or a speedboat.
So I don't know.
It's not trickling down to, you
know, us having like a fantastic
kitchen.
Malcolm: To serve people like
former bodybuilder and window
cleaner Dave Blythe, whose leg
was amputated four years ago
because of a blocked artery.
The meals he receives keeps him
from being one of more than a
million British seniors said to
be wasting away because of
hunger.
>> It is fairly depressing where
I've worked all my life to
actually rely on people to give
you food.
It doesn't make you feel too
good.
Malcolm: The kitchen's
co-founder, Bryan Coyle, has
launched a nationwide
campaign to compel local
authorities to fund meal
deliveries to the vulnerable.
>> So we'll give them two
punnets.
Here you go.
>> We've now got a situation in
England where over a million
over 65-year-olds in this
country are suffering from
malnutrition.
It's quite a shocking statistic
in a country as rich as the
United Kingdom.
>> Here is your dinner.
>> Thank you very much.
Malcolm: Charles Sadler is
collecting a food parcel for
himself and six Neighbours.
>> I've been getting food here
for quite a while.
Malcolm: What would happen to
you if you didn't get this meal?
What sort of difference does it
make to you?
>> Stops me from going hungry.
But I am blessed.
Malcolm: Across town, debt coach
Neil avard is delivering a
welfare package to someone who
is housebound.
He believes many people have cut
back right to the bone
>> You can budget and get your
expenditure right down.
But I'm now coming to a point
where I'm finding, well,
actually, no, you're in negative
expenditure and you've cut down
or cut back on everything.
Now that's going to be a big
problem unless the government
steps in with more help for
people, you know, with heating
grants and food grants and
things like that.
Malcolm: In the words of
Britain's institute for fiscal
studies, the country is in for a
long, hard, unpleasant journey,
made more arduous by a series of
economic blunders.
For the pbs newshour, I'm