Largely driven by high fraction of natural gas in British energy mix. British gas production in the north sea has declined, no more imports from Russia and now 60% of imported gas comes from Norway[1], which is more expensive.
It's rather annoying as a brit. Apparently the wholesale cost of electricty is about 7p in the UK but I get charged 25p. Something not very efficient is going on.
This is what happens when people treat the Telegraph as news rather than a source of disinformation used by wealthy vested interests to manipulate public opinion.
That I'm aware of, the "wholesale cost" does not include the local distribution networks. Those cost a fair number of pence to build and maintain.
And - I vaguely recall that the UK had world-beating taxes and surcharges on electricity - some for "green" reasons, some to spread the agony of the staggering cost overruns at new British nuclear plants, and some to help shore up the government's "general budget" financial woes.
some daft way so that oil, coal, and gas generators of electricity don't lose money to cheaper renewables, so the price per unit is set to the least efficient method - absolutely ludicrous.
Of those countries where geography precludes easy imports from competent neighbors, is there any which has generally had lower-functioning government over the past half-ish century?
How about the 3000 people still serving under them? Are we going to wait another 10 years so it can turn into a media hogging scandal like the Post Office affair?
You need to define middle class properly in order to answer this question.
Actual middle class Brits who own property - fairly decently. There are some headwinds with regards to things like energy prices etc but it's mostly fine.
"Middle class" Brits e.g. sons and daughters of the middle class who are renting (often sharing), not so great. It's relatively difficult to buy nowadays because we stopped building.
Seems like Britain still pays the highest price for almost anything, in the world, and used to be known by international traders as 'treasure island', and I guess still is.
I was quite surprised when car shopping, that prices in New Zealand (always pretty expensive, being a small market far away from the rest of the world), were on average 20% to 30% less than the UK. Including European brands and vehicles actually manufactured in the UK, like the Nissan Qashqai.
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/natural-gas-chapter...