Is Britain now the most expensive place to live in the Western world? This is what many people may well have been asking themselves over recent months, with house prices that are out of this world after a ten year boom, rapidly rising bills, increased petrol and food costs, below inflation pay rises, and blundering moves by the government such as the abolition of the 10p tax bracket, all of which have angered the average consumer who is struggling to make ends meet, particularly in the current financial climate.

A recent report has claimed that Britain does indeed have the highest living costs in the Western world, so it is little wonder that families are finding it so difficult to keep on top of their financial commitments. In fact, the report estimates that the average annual cost of bills, food, a home, and other essentials for the average middle class family is now over £38,000. This is a figure that has been calculated by a firm of international economists, and they have confirmed that the figure has gone up by a whopping £2000 since the last calculation, which was just four months ago.

Experts state the rise in living costs that has been seen in Britain reflects the rapidly rising bills and costs that Brits have been hit with. This includes soaring petrol prices, increasing food costs, higher mortgage costs for fixed rate deals, and higher rents, not to mention the huge increases in energy costs, which are due to go up once again later this year. There are even fears that the interest rate could go back up again in August, although this is a fear that the Bank of England has been trying to reassure consumers about.

The average household bill for food alone has gone up by around £1000 a year according to a recently report, based on inflation of nearly 20% on essential food prices. Energy bills rocketed earlier this year, with energy firms blaming hiked up wholesale energy prices for the rise, and some say that they could go up again by a further 30-40% by the end of the year. This could see a further £400 a year added on to the average household energy bill.

The research was carried out by the Economic Research Institute. Whilst the areas in the report did not include notoriously wealthy places such as Monte Carlo the calculations were based on the living costs for a family of three living in a home of 1240 square feet, and owning one car that covered around twenty thousand miles a year. It was based on major cities around the Western world, and officials said that whilst certain costs were more expensive in cities such as Paris or Dublin, high costs associated with housing resulted in Britain being earmarked as the most expensive.

One official said: ‘The cost of living across all the major cities has risen markedly compared to figures compiled earlier this year. The increase of more than £2,000 for London is particularly large.’

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