Britain is facing a new economic era that will hurt those already struggling, and could radicalise even the previously comfortable
The sleepless nights are here again, then. It’s back to the bad old days of poring over a calculator, trying and failing to make the sums add up; back to scrimping and saving, hiding from the bank, wondering dizzily what just hit us.
Even before the Bank of England pushed up interest rates to 5% on Thursday, the Resolution Foundation thinktank was warning that anyone coming off a fixed-rate mortgage next year could expect their repayments to rise on average by £2,900 a year. But that’s just an average: recently I bumped into a friend whose payments trebled when she remortgaged. She and her partner count themselves lucky as they’re earning well enough to absorb the shock, but only by sticking to the absolute bare essentials. No more going out. No more fun stuff.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
