Household spending at record high, fuelled by rising petrol prices
This article reinforces just how severely fuel prices are undermining rural sustainability:
British households have cut back on clothes and furniture spending to cope with a sharp rise in petrol bills, according to the government’s annual Family Spending survey. The Office for National Statistics revealed that households on average spent a record £483.60 a week in 2011, up £10 on the year before – but much of the increase was gobbled up by a 9% rise in spending on petrol.
The figures also reveal that spending is falling fastest among the poorest, and suggest the “squeezed middle” may be a statistical myth.
On average in 2011 the bottom 10% of households spent £187.20 a week, down 9% on the £203.10 a year earlier. The middle “decile” of households saw their spending rise from £491.50 to £508.40 a week.The typical British household now spends 20% more meeting transport costs – £65.70 a week – than on food and drink, which costs the average family £54.80 a week.