By Cllr Clive Jones
We are all concerned about the impact of inflation on our household budgets – the looming threat of the rise in the energy cap is going to affect us all and the cost of food shopping seems to be rising every week and has been rising for some time.
But as we all wonder how to make ends meet, spare a thought for our hard-pressed local small businesses.
For them, there is no energy price cap.
They are facing astronomical bills for gas and electricity and seeing the costs of raw materials and imported products rise alarmingly.
They have to pass these increased costs onto us where they can.
They have been absorbing price rises where they can, but this is getting harder as each week goes by.
Small businesses are the life blood our communities; without them are lives would be much the poorer.
They offer a personal service and build up good relations with their local customers, and they employ local people. We should cherish and support them all we can.
Unfortunately, central government is yet to act to help them (or any of the rest of us).
The borough council lacks the resources to make up for the government’s neglect.
The council’s budget is already overstretched by massive rises in inflation, rising demand for services and the council failing to reach income targets set only at the beginning of this year by the previous administration.
The council will do all in its power to assist our local small businesses in these tough times. But ultimately only central government can provide the financial support that small businesses need.
Recent polling shows that a majority of people see the current cost-of-living crisis as comparable to or worse than the pandemic in its impact on their lives. Yet central government seems reluctant to provide a response proportionate to the challenge.
Let’s hope that will change when the government once again has some leadership.
What, then, can we, as individuals and families, do to help?
Well, we can use local shops and small business for as many of our needs as we can. Shop local was the mantra in the pandemic; we need to rekindle that spirit of locality now to support our local small businesses.
Cllr Clive Jones is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and Lib Dem ward member for Hawkedon
