Tax cuts and cheaper fruit among Labour and National party plans to address rising cost of living pressures as people once comfortable are swept into crisis
A weekly treat of takeaway dinner became fortnightly, then monthly. Trips to the movies were cut. So were dentist appointments – and salads.
Over the past six months, Anum Najif, 35, has found every supermarket visit “more difficult than the one before”. Power bills are “shocking”. Rent, she adds, “is that kind of topic where I really don’t know what to do or how to manage it any more”.