Sawt Falasteen - Hard up UK voters driven to political fringes by cost of living

Fourteen years on and the military veteran is a recently bankrupt divorced father-of-two renting a room in a shared house, despite working full-time throughout that period.

"I've always worked my socks off. What I don't like about the current situation of the country is, no matter how hard you work now, you can't get ahead," Rossi, 46, told AFP.

"The current state of affairs has just destroyed any hope of progressing in life."

As Britons prepare to vote in a general election on July 4, Rossi is politically scarred by his experiences -- and been spurred into trying something different.

He decided to manage the campaign of a candidate standing in his northwest London neighbourhood for the fringe Workers Party, founded by veteran left-wing politician George Galloway.

"I'm involved in the election because I am sick and tired of Labour and Conservative," Rossi explained, referring to the two main parties.

Polls predict Labour will regain power for the first time since it ruled from 1997 to 2010.

Rossi said: "Labour didn't do anything then, really, in my opinion. (The) Conservatives, they've done absolutely nothing but compound the misery and upset."

- 'Barely surviving' -

On the other side of the British capital, lifelong East End resident Lilian, who asked to use a pseudonym, for privacy reasons, is similarly minded.

She said she is "barely surviving" without a job, government welfare support or prospects to resolve her dire situation.

"You can't even say you're treading water in life, because at least then you keep your head up above the water," she said, in her strong Cockney accent.

"It's not the cost of living, it's the price they are charging me to survive."

Lilian, 56, used to work in shipping on east London's once-bustling docks before they were redeveloped into the Canary Wharf financial and office district.

She then worked in the postal service, becoming active in its union, but said she was forced out after injuring her back.

Unable to navigate the bureaucratic requirements of the disability and welfare system, and not able to work, Lilian argued she has been cast adrift.

Raised in a staunchly working-class Labour-voting family, she will vent her frustrations by backing an independent candidate next Thursday.

"I absolutely made my mind up years ago," she explained.

"There's no way on God's green river-polluted, sewage-strewn arse am I voting Labour.

"(I) definitely ain't voting Tory -- my grandfather would never forgive me."

- 'Reality' -

Political analysts predict next week's voting could be the most fractured on record, as Britons abandon traditional party loyalties -- or opt not to vote at all.

Rossi's and Lilian's experiences help explain why.

Rossi worked in construction after leaving the army but found jobs dried up following the 2008 financial crisis. So he became a public bus driver.

However, after his marriage failed his wages proved insufficient as child support, rent and other costs mounted.

Eager to avoid eviction, he took out short-term loans at exorbitant interest rates which ultimately forced him into bankruptcy in 2022.

That came just as inflation was soaring to double-digit levels, spiking food and energy costs.

Back on something of an even keel after bankruptcy, he now rents a room for £600 ($760) per month, his dreams of home ownership shattered.

"The cost of living is just ridiculous," Rossi said.

"I'd love to look to the future and think 10 years from now I could get a mortgage, have a house. But I know it's not a reality, it's not going to happen."

Lilian appears a victim of years of government austerity after the Tories retook power in 2010, which critics say has decimated Britain's social safety net.

The mother-of-two lives in what she calls substandard public housing, relying on her adult-age children to help pay her rent.

Rejected by the government benefits system and employers, she is saddled with debt as outstanding bills for things like her phone and energy supplies pile up.

"I can't go out and work. Universal Credit is going to send me suicidal," she said, referring to one of the main benefit schemes for the unemployed and low-earners.

"I'm not going to beg a system for money when the system has put me where I am."

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST