Foreign firms helping to ease the UK’s cost of living crisis

THE cost of living is, at the present time, the main problem for the general public, with prices for the essentials of life – food, clothing and housing etc, far outpacing the salaries of most people.

However, we are now seeing retailers from the European Union – Lidl and Aldi – and from the East, China, in clothing (Greenwoods), establishing themselves in the UK along with several nations who have taken over from our motor vehicle industry.

All of these appear to be prospering, even though their prices are generally lower and indeed well below the UK trader prices and equally as good in quality. Should we welcome these traders more than we have previously?

From: Cyril Elliott, Monckton Road, Sheffield.

referring to the article ‘Can Britain stand up for itself?’ by Ted Bromund (The Yorkshire Post, March 22), well, to name but a few, we have lost the steel industry, coal mining, woollen mills, ship building, fishing, gas production, cotton mills, shoemaking etc. Most of our clothes are made abroad, banks have been allowed to be taken over by other countries, which should never have happened. I think it would be a disaster if we left the EU.

In addition, we have a Prime Minister who spends too much time and money visiting and trying to sort other countries out instead of Britain. I also think the HS2 is a waste of money because most people will not be able to afford it. The money should be used protecting the coastline, as proved by the recent floods and it is likely to happen again.

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme.

BRITISH banks, whether currently profitable or loss-making, continue happily to award their staff with massive salaries and multi-million pound bonuses.

Yet their shareholders are left with the double-whammy of no dividend on their investment, and the loss in value of their shares from say 2007 to now of as much as 93 per cent. Besides which the ordinary worker’s erosion of his wages by inflation is utterly insignificant.

I see no reason why banks should ever address the huge injustice of this situation, which suits their operation so well. Government dare not touch them lest they carry out their threat to go abroad. We only have the faint hope that some form of shareholder revolt will eventually be organised.