PMQs: Starmer and Sunak clash on cost of living crisis as ‘UK families to be poorer than Polish by 2030’

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Pensioner Rory Maclaine was forced to move in with his son last year because skyrocketing energy bills meant that he couldn’t afford his two-bedroom house anymore. The 75-year-old was left “struggling”, “scared”, and with no choice but to return to work last Christmas to earn some extra cash to help with rising costs.

He receives around £725 a month from his state pension but, with energy costs being around £187 a month for a two-bedroom house, his electricity and gas bills took up more than a quarter of this.

And in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis he was having to fork out a lot more at the supermarket, with staples like bread going up more than 20 percent between December 2021 and last December, and cheese up by more than 32 percent.

Speaking to the Express, he said: “I had a two-bedroom house in Brighton but it was getting a little too much for me on my own.

“I only have a state pension, and the bills were starting to stack up.”

He added: “The energy bills were particularly extortionate. As we know they’ve got worse and worse, and I was a little scared.

“I was struggling – it was getting too much for me to cover them on my own.

“I was working, playing Father Christmas last year and I thought, ‘Oh god am I still having to work at the age of 75?’, but I had no other choice.

“Around September of last year, my son and his partner said I could move in with them, in Chesham and it has made a huge difference to my life.”

But it’s not been an easy ride for Rory as he said the impact of moving away from loved ones has impacted him mentally.

He added: “Moving away from Brighton and losing the neighbours and friends I had in Brighton was hard.

“At my age, such a big move is stressful. But the help it has made to my finances meant the move made sense.

“I never thought this would happen.”

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Mr Maclaine added: “I did think about downsizing into a one-bedroom flat, but I didn’t want to pay so many bills.

“I’m not sure I would have been able to cope on my own if I hadn’t moved in with them.

“Particularly in the winter months, trying to cover the cost of energy would have been difficult.

“If I had more help with my energy bills, perhaps this would not have happened.”

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