Struggling middle class at heart of UK polls fight
Print Edition
Whether labeled “Worcester Woman” or “Aldi Mum,” the struggling middle class is at the heart of the campaign for Britain’s May elections despite an economic recovery under David Cameron’s coalition.
The terms refer to a key swing constituency in England’s West Midlands and a discount supermarket but are catch-alls coined by politicians for struggling voters on lower incomes around the country.
“Every year it seems like things cost more and more and your wages stay the same,” said Phil Birchley, who lives in the historic city of Worcester currently held by the Conservatives, with his wife Laura, who works for the National Health Service.
Since taking power in 2010, Cameron’s coalition government has launched deep austerity cuts to halve the public spending deficit which peaked in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis.
This has led to huge cuts and salary freezes in the public sector.
Despite the sharp slowdown in inflation in recent months, prices have gone up some 11.5 percent in five years, while salaries have risen only by 7.5 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.
At an Aldi in Worcester, Sue Brennan, a retired care worker whose husband lost his job with the police, said she had been able to save money by shopping for food there and investing in a new boiler.
“We struggle. It is national and international. Cyprus, Greece suffered, now it could be us,” she said, referring to the eurozone countries that were among the worst hit by the sovereign debt crisis.
The feeling is widely shared and appears to be holding back political gains for the Conservatives, who should be benefiting more from higher growth.
The election campaign that swept Labour and Tony Blair to power in 1997 identified “Worcester Woman” as a key target, but the Conservatives have since won the city back and are fighting to keep it in May on a small majority.
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