As the evenings become darker and chillier, local residents wonder how long they can delay or adjust the heating in their homes.

For the less fortunate in our community, their home is not going to be a warm space this winter. ‘Heat or eat’ is a dilemma faced by those with little disposable income, including many working households whose bills are going up every week.

The just-about-managing families who cannot stretch their budgets any further, the disabled, the socially isolated, the older people on fixed pensions, all fear a long cold winter.

Food banks and other voluntary and community services have warned of the tidal wave of winter misery for many people, even here in the prosperous south east.

We may be one of the richest countries in the world, but not in terms of individual shares of that wealth.

Government policy is inadequate for the crisis.

It reflects the hard right ideology of prime minister Liz Truss and her closest circle. These include Conservative Party chair Jake Berry who sparked outrage by suggesting people should “cut their consumption or get a new, higher-paid job.”

Just like that!

The new administration headed by Truss is having to deal with a series of actual and potential crises, in the UK and around the world. The most immediate of these challenges is the cost-of-living crisis that threatens a severe drop in living standards for many.

At the same time, the health service is still recovering from the pandemic, and nurses – some of whom need to use food banks – are threatening strike action, while predictions are for a winter flu and Covid ‘twindemic’. The Tories’ levelling-up promise to reduce regional disparities in economic and social well-being hasn’t happened.

The long-established NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey measures and tracks changes in people’s social, political and moral attitudes. Its August 2022 annual report shows concern about inequality has increased since the pandemic, with more people saying government should redistribute wealth to those who are less well off.

A majority of the British public (52 per cent) said in the latest survey at the end of 2021 they felt government should increase taxes and spend more on health, education and social benefits, similar to the 50 per cent in 2020 and the pre-pandemic figure of 53 per cent in 2019.

Almost half of Conservative supporters and 61 per cent of Labour supporters say government should increase taxes and spending.

And 49 per cent now agree government should redistribute income from the better off to those who are less well off, up ten percentage points from 2019, while only around a quarter disagree.

Meanwhile, community bodies, local networks and churches, and national charities are doing their best to plug the gaps, working even harder to support the working poor as well as those on benefits including pensions.

Hampshire County Council is making the most of the county’s library network by offering libraries as warm and welcoming spaces for anyone needing a warm place.

A plan to distribute Winter Warm packs to the most vulnerable is under way, but another hot water bottle and a woolly hat won’t pay the rent, or escalating bills.

Petersfield food bank appeals regularly for foodstuffs and financial donations to meet growing needs. Citizens Advice East Hampshire is even busier helping local people manage mounting debts, check benefits entitlements, deal with housing issues, complex family crises, all underpinned by growing money worries.

‘Broken Britain’ is becoming a common phrase.

It doesn’t need to be this way.