Among the eight focus group members, all of whom voted Conservative in 2019, Ms Truss came up with the candidate who is more “for people like us”. Tracey, a housing worker from the West Midlands said: “I’ve noticed the price of milk. We use semi-skimmed, but my granddaughter, who lives with us, is lactose intolerant. Its dairy-free products are growing by a ridiculous amount. We’re probably spending twice as much now as we were before.” Kerrie, a school receptionist from Manchester, said she had noticed an increase in the cost of fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables and fish. Supermarket markdowns that previously reduced produce to 99p are now £1.30 “and probably cost around 30 to 40 per cent more each week in a food shop”, he said. Ben, a father-of-two who lives in West Yorkshire and works in IT, says: “The general food shop is going up a lot … by around £40 a week. Utility bills are skyrocketing, as is the fuel for our cars. Everything seems to be going up.” Sonny, who works at a ship repair company in Portsmouth, said: “My gas and electric [bill] it has risen from £100 a month to £180 a month. I’ll have to work harder and just watch the pennies a little more.” He and Leon aren’t alone in taking on extra work to deal with rising costs or planning to do so by fall. “I do private tutoring on the side of my main job because it’s a good way to get a bit of extra income,” said Katie, a 28-year-old teacher in East Anglia. Jos, a mobile cleaning supervisor from Portsmouth, said she “rarely had luxuries anyway” but sells some things to make ends meet. Tracey, the housing worker from the West Midlands, said: “I actually turned off all my heating and got rid of the tumble dryer… I made a bit of money from it. I also charge my phone at work.”
