A mum and daughter argue over whether to feed themselves or heat their terraced house in Anfield as price rises bite in one of the poorest parts of Britain.
With food prices rising at the fastest rate since 2008, Ashton and her mum's monthly shopping bill has doubled this year. A prepayment metre gives them a sense of control over what they spend on energy, but even that's more than doubled. The pair, who are re on benefits due to disability and mental illness, are left fighting over whether to stock the cupboards or fill the fridge.
Ashton said: "What can you do? You argue with your mum, but the electric is more important. We don't want the food we've got to spoil. I feel sick, I don't like fighting about what's going on, I don't like fighting over food or electric."
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She remembers when she could stretch £1 to treat herself to "a chocolate bar, a drink and a pack of crisps" while a school student. But prices in August were 9.9% higher than 12 months ago, and the Bank of England expects inflation to rise to 13% later this year, leaving Ashton asking, "now, what does £1 in the shop get you?". She said: "The UK is already in a poverty crisis. There are more foodbanks than Asdas. People struggle, they're going hungry."
The squeeze is worst felt in areas like Anfield, where Ashton lives, in the most deprived parliamentary constituency in the country. In the Liverpool council ward in the shadow of Anfield stadium, nearly one in three kids is in absolute poverty, living in households with incomes below £18,840 per year, 60% of the median income.
Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies found the poorest 10% of households in the country faced an inflation rate three percentage points higher than the rate faced by the richest 10%. This is mostly due to the poorest households spending 11% of their budget on gas and electricity while the richest households spend only 4%.
Elizabeth, 84, pays £170 for gas and electricity each month. When the provider recently tried to bump up the bill, she wondered "where the heck they think I'm getting £200 from". She said: "It's going to be really hard the way it's going. I don't see the point in some of the prices going up, but they're all going up. Everybody's profiteering if they can. and you can't do anything about it, not in my state here, this is a very, very poor area."
Ashton told the ECHO: "I'm wondering where my next £20 is coming from to put on the electric. I worry if my mum can afford it. It's not like I've not tried to find a job, but there are no jobs to go around. If you haven't got the qualifications or the experience, nobody wants to know."
The Walton constituency has the highest unemployment rate in Merseyside, with 6.9% of people claiming unemployment related benefits in May, according to a House of Commons research briefing published last month. Unemployment has fallen since it soared at the start of the pandemic in 2020, but in Anfield, it's stayed around 14%, nearly double what it was three years ago.
One resident remembers when the streets were bustling with butchers and grocers, but they're gone now, replaced by supermarket chains while some of the houses are tinned up. A bit further north, on County Road, the story of decline is much the same, with even Jack's, Tesco's defunct discount supermarket, closing its doors earlier this year.
"More and more people are being plunged into destitution", according to Valerie Beach, a caseworker in the office of local MP Dan Carden, "and they're forced to make impossible choices, especially this winter". The team mostly deals with housing and poverty cases, with one of the biggest issues being a "growing numbers of people living in overcrowded homes, or in really poor housing with private landlords, and families waiting for years for a home with social housing".
People "think an MP's constituency office is like a big call centre and we've got all these staff", but the "small office" has only a couple of caseworkers and 60,000 constituents, "so you can feel the pressure". Valerie said: "What I know from casework coming through, is that people are coming in with low paid jobs and not enough to cover the bills, or even the rent. They're struggling with increasing rents.
"It will be an absolute disaster this winter without further help for families on low income and on welfare benefits. One person said to me, 'I work full time, but I can't afford a sofa'. It's shocking, and these are people who are working. Buying something like a cooker or a fridge has become a luxury for people who're working."
Some people asking the MP's office for help are caught out by the government's rule that most people only receive more Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for their first two kids. One in twelve kids in the UK are affected by this, and most of these families are working. Valerie, whose job is to signpost people to help, said this means some families "can't afford to shop at the supermarket", so she directs them to food pantries where they can "get fresh fruit and veg".
Elizabeth's congregation at Christ Church, opposite Anfield stadium, runs foodbanks and food pantries attended by people "in dire straits". Elizabeth said: "Quite a few are working, a lot of them are girls with children who can only work so many hours a week. That money doesn't last, so they have to top up at the foodbank."
Over time, the cycle of poverty wears people down, making it harder to escape. Ashton said "no one can live like this", telling the ECHO: "It's hard. I suffer with my own mental health, so I've got to worry about her and then worry about myself. It's not fun, you know, it's not nice. Honestly, sometimes you just stare at a blank wall going, 'How am I going to do this?'."
Valerie said: "We see people struggling in poverty also suffering with their mental health. Even if you're really strong, it's a daily struggle when in the morning you have to think, 'Do I turn my electric on? Should I have breakfast or should I put £5 in the gas metre?'. Lots of people need support. They need guidance."
Dan Carden's office works with local organisations providing "vital free legal advice" for constituents, including Vauxhall Law Centre, which also runs debt advice sessions at Homebaked Bakery on Oakfield Road. The office also hosts regular sessions where Liverpool Law Clinic offers parents of kids with disabilities help with benefits, education and access to respite care.
Ashton doesn't keep a close eye on politics. She thinks she gets enough support from the government, "but they could care more instead of changing the Prime Minister every second of the day". The fear and anger are palpable as we edge closer to the October energy price rise - less than it would have been without a recently announced freeze - and billpayers get a taste of their financial fate.
Elizabeth said "it's disgusting", but she hasn't experienced the need to cut back yet, even if her family did have to discuss how to save on this week's shop. Ashton said the top executives at energy firms "don't suffer" the consequences of rising prices, adding: "They're happy, they've got their money in their pocket. They don't care that there are people going hungry or people going cold."
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