Cost Of Living this Christmas

3.46.00pm GMT Mon 8th Dec 2008

Peter Coley said, "We need to put money back into the pockets of the people who are struggling to make ends meet."

Like everyone else in the country, residents of Leicester are suffering from rocketing food and

energy prices. The government's own figures show that bread is up a fifth, butter and eggs by over a third and potatoes by over a quarter.

Local Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Cllr. Peter Coley joined forces recently with the Lib Dems' Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP to highlight the real increase in the cost of living.

Groceries up over 25% They took a supermarket basket of basic groceries which together cost less than £10 last year. The same basket now costs over £12, a quarter higher.

Peter Coley said, "People are feeling the pain of the credit crunch and rocketing prices," commented Peter. "The government is doing too little, too late to help people get through the hard times. Lib Dems would put money back in peoples Pockets "We need to put money back in the pockets of people who are struggling to make ends meet. Liberal Democrats are calling for a 4p cut in the rate of income tax, paid for by upping taxes on pollution and closing tax loopholes used by the rich.

Lib Dems would cut government waste and stop tax loopholes for the rich. Peter said, "We would also get tough on unnecessary and wasteful government spending, and use some of the money saved to cut taxes even further for those on low and middle incomes. And energy companies should be forced to use the £9 billion profit they have made from the Emissions Trading Scheme to cut bills and fight fuel poverty."