Londoners are spending an average £10,000 a year more on essential bills than they were in 2010, new analysis has claimed.
Housing was the biggest driver of rising costs in the capital, with tenants paying an average £18,418 per year, up from £13,270 in 2010, while home owners have seen average mortgage payments rise £7,322, from £10,988 to £17,519 a year.
Annual childcare bills for London families have risen almost £4,000, and energy prices are up by more than £1,400 compared with 2010.
At the same time wages have failed to rise in line with prices, the analysis produced by London Labour from government data revealed.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “On housing, on childcare, on utility bills and so much more, life is harder for Londoners than when the Tories came to power. And with years of crippling austerity alongside a negligent lack of investment, living standards and wages simply haven’t kept up with people’s living costs.
“I’m doing all I can to help hard-pressed Londoners – starting record numbers of affordable homes, rolling out free school meals for all primary school children and giving financial support to the very lowest paid.“
Meanwhile, London homeowners face an annual hit of nearly £3,000 on average if they switch to a variable rate on their mortgage rather than locking into a new fixed-term deal, according to Commons Library data.
Half of Londoners say they are “financially struggling” or “just about managing”, while around one in 10 say they are going without essentials, such as food, electricity or gas to help manage living costs, recent polling by YouGov found.
Conservative candidate for Mayor Susan Hall has vowed to scrapped the controversial Ulez expansion if she is elected to next May.
She says cancelling the £12:50 daily charge for drivers with older, more polluting cars will help Londoners with the cost of living crisis.
She has also pledged to extend Mr Khan’s planned free school meal programme “for as long as the cost of living situation requires it”.
