The spin said the crisis was over. The reality says otherwise. Towards the end of May, 66% of households reported that their cost of living had increased over the previous month - the highest share since late 2022. For all the talk of corners being turned, two in three families are still watching their money buy less every single month.

Frozen Thresholds, Shrinking Pay Packets

Here is the quiet robbery at the heart of it. The personal allowance has been frozen at GBP 12,570 since 2021 and is set to stay frozen until 2030/31. As wages slowly rise, more and more people are dragged into paying tax - and into higher bands - without any minister ever standing up to announce a tax rise. This is fiscal drag: a stealth tax that takes more from you every year while politicians keep their hands clean.

It is one of the most dishonest forms of taxation there is, precisely because it is designed not to be noticed. But families notice. They notice when the payslip says more and the bank balance says less.

Labour Promised Growth and Delivered Squeeze

This government came to office promising growth above all else. Eighteen months on, what working people have actually experienced is higher taxes, higher bills, and confidence draining out of the economy. Businesses are warning about the burden. Households are cutting back on essentials. The "growth" that was meant to lift everyone has not arrived - and ordinary people are paying for its absence.

Energy and Fuel Pile On the Pain

It does not stop at tax. The energy price cap is rising 13% in July. Fuel costs remain punishingly high. Every one of these increases lands on the same stretched household budget at the same time. When tax, energy and fuel all rise together, there is no room left to absorb it - something has to give, and too often it is the family's standard of living.

What Reform UK Would Do

Reform UK would lift the income tax personal allowance dramatically - taking the lowest earners out of income tax altogether and letting working people keep far more of what they earn. We would end the stealth-tax freeze on thresholds, cut wasteful government spending, and bring energy costs down by backing domestic production. The way out of a cost of living crisis is not to tax people more and spend it less wisely - it is to let them keep their own money in the first place.

Working Britain has carried this burden long enough. It is time for a government that trusts people with their own earnings.