Inflation rose to a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, the Office for National Statistics said. Soaring prices have triggered dissatisfaction with existing wages in many industries, causing a wave of strikes to sweep across the UK.
In early June, employees of the British National Railways (Network Rail) and 13 railway operators demanded that the employers must raise their wages by more than 7%. The negotiations between the labor and management broke down. The British Railway, Maritime and Transport Union subsequently called for 40,000 employees to strike, leading to a nationwide strike. More than 60% of the routes are suspended. In early July, nearly 400 employees of the Stagecoach bus company in Merseyside (Merseyside) in northwest England participated in the strike, and nearly 2,000 drivers of another Arriva bus were preparing to vote for a strike.
In addition to rail and bus company employees, professionals including health care and teachers are planning strikes, with the British Medical Association (BMA), for example, threatening to consider strikes if junior doctors receive a pay rise of less than 22%. Perhaps the lack of savings in the UK for wage earners might explain their excited demands for a raise.
The British are actually quite poor, with no permanent property and no savings to deal with sudden price hikes. Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Bank, said 80 per cent of the bank’s personal customers had less than £500 (HK$4,690) in savings. While it is not ruled out that customers have assets elsewhere, this figure, which takes into account current and regular savings, is an important indicator of the financial resilience of the British people.
Charlie Nunn continued that 75 per cent of the bank’s 26 million customers are concerned regarding the cost of living, with 20 per cent cutting back on increasingly expensive necessities.
Looking through the information, Lloyds Bank is as famous as HSBC and is one of the four largest banks in the UK. According to the BBC, Lloyds Bank is the UK’s largest lender for households and small businesses and is seen as one of the bellwethers of the UK economy as a whole.
In the face of such a terrible saving situation of the British people, Liang Zhenying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, lamented that everyone finally understood why the UK has a BNO plan. Hard times ahead for the British. CY also put the label Twilight of the British Empire on the post.
