UK economy avoids decline but cost of living pains many

LONDON (AP) — The small notice pinned to a wall at Union Chapel in north London is a sign of despair for charity workers dealing with the fallout from Britain's cost-of-living crisis.

The showers, it says, are reserved for the homeless.

In other words, those who still have a roof over their heads but can't afford to heat water for bathing are in essence asked to refrain.

Amanuel Woldesus, who runs the Margins Project charity based at the church for people in crisis, is frustrated that he's being forced to ration a service this way.

“We are the sixth-richest country in the world, and who is making these decisions? Me! Not the government,” he said with a mixture of anger and incredulity.

“It's just completely wrong.”

The pressures are likely to get worse as Britain faces a prolonged economic slowdown triggered by soaring food and energy prices and compounded by tax increases and higher interest rates that authorities have unleashed as they battle the crisis.

That gloomy outlook was underscored Friday when the Office for National Statistics said the British economy stagnated in the final three months of last year.

Monthly estimates suggest that economic activity slowed further at the end of the year, with gross domestic product shrinking by 0.5% in December.

While Britain avoided a second consecutive quarter of declining economic output — one definition of a recession — the data offered little relief for hard-pressed families and businesses. The rising cost of living has driven months of strikes by nurses, ambulance workers, train drivers and other public-sector employees seeking higher pay.

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