Last week we all got poorer.

I’m not talking about Trump’s tariffs, although that too risks price hikes for us all. But more immediately, last week, a whole swathe of bills went up. We’ve just passed into what has been termed in the media as ‘Awful April’. Far be it for me to declare our 2025 new year optimism to be officially over but, with rising rents, energy and council tax bills now hitting the pockets of workers, our optimism is fast draining.

Energy prices up 6.4%.

Council tax bills up in the region of 7-15%.

Broadband up in the region of 7.5%.

TV licence and car tax both up £5.

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Last week we also saw the Scottish Government remove emergency rent controls ensuring that any rent changes are kept to 12% or below. Landlords can now push rent as high as they like without little to no repercussions.

And it isn’t just those renting that struggle with housing costs. The average fixed rate mortgage is still above 5%.

Much of this is driven by simple profiteering. In fact, my opening sentence isn’t technically correct – while the vast majority got poorer, due to these price rises, a few corporate executives and landlords are doing rather well.

Thankfully, however, something else also went up last week. The minimum wage for over 21s rose by 6.7% from £11.44 to £12.21. Seventy-six........

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