The average family in Lewisham has seen the price of the weekly food shop rise by a staggering £700 per year – as new figures from Lewisham Labour reveals a total hit to local families of £87 million.

The figures come as the cost of living crisis continues to deepen – mortgages and rents are soaring, taxes are at the highest level in a generation, and real wages are falling. That’s why a Labour Government would freeze council tax – fully funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. Labour councils already keep council tax £345 lower than the Conservatives, and more than £400 lower than the Lib Dems, while investing more in economic development to get local economies moving again.

Publishing the research Amanda De Ryk, Lewisham Labour’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy, said,

“Under the Conservatives, we are suffering the worst cost of living crisis in a generation and it’s getting worse by the day. Yet instead of offering families the support they need the Tories are raising taxes for families in Lewisham while giving a £1bn tax cut to the richest people in the country.

“But Labour is on your side, and Labour has a plan. We would freeze council tax for every household in the country, and stop energy bills rising above £2,000 this year – fully funded by a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants. And we’d get the country going again through Keir Starmer’s Mission to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7.

Locally, Lewisham Labour is doing everything we can to support local families through the cost of living crisis, including providing £400,000 to our schools to help tackle school hunger, supporting 36 Warm Welcome spaces in the borough, and raising £100,000 for Lewisham Food Bank.