Energy, housing, and food costs are set to rise yet again due to the latest breakdown in the supply chains that provide the vulnerable link between the most essential requirements of the population – a direct result of Margaret Thatcher’s and Tony Blair’s adherence to the globalisation model.
An independent post-WWII UK
The modern UK is completely dependent on a large percentage of essential imports. This is a complete reversal of the post-second world war period, when there was a recognition of the ease with which an island nation could be deprived of the necessities of life in the absence of domestic resilience. Social policy was adapted to ensure that domestic production of food and energy was maximised, and sufficient housing was built and provided by the state.
Post-war, with state-owned utilities, energy companies and even telephone communication, the cost of living could be, not only controlled, but set, by the government. This in turn dictated what the average worker needed to earn as a wage to provide a decent standard of living. Workers’ wage demands were simple to correlate with living standards and were relatively stable, meaning UK businesses enjoyed a subsidised workforce and the resulting competitive advantage for exports.
The British public benefitted from full employment, relatively low bills and a rising standard of living.
Vulnerability of a modern UK
This is what current political leaders appear to be blind to. Despite repeated and varied examples of the vulnerability of global supply chains, and the unforeseen consequences of the breakdowns, government still fails to act on the inadequacy of domestic resilience in the current economic system.
In the last seven years, the UK has experienced Brexit; the coronavirus pandemic; a blockage of the Suez Canal; disruption of sea lanes in the Middle East; increasingly extreme weather events; a war in Europe; and now, the initiation of a US/Israeli conflict with Iran, which has already engulfed most of the countries in the region.
Four years ago, the Westminster government commissioned a report through the National Preparedness Commission on the vulnerability of the UK’s food security in the aftermath of the covid outbreak. Professor Tim Lang was given the task, and over three years produced a lengthy report – Just in case.
His findings were that the UK was indeed in an extremely vulnerable position through its reliance on global supply chains, and called for an extensive network of local community food production to be set up. The paper was published in February 2025, and seems to have been largely ignored at Westminster.
The fact that the information, requested and driven by the UK government, is in their possession, would lead one to believe that this denial is wilful. It is reported that the youth unemployment rate in the UK today is 16%. Construction of the infrastructure to grow vegetables and fruit at scale, and the training it would take to turn this latent potential into productive horticulturalists, thus enhancing UK sovereignty, is simply not rocket-science.
The effects of ignoring global food dependency
The rising bills for the utilities that every citizen of the UK requires have knock-on effects. People must receive the income required to keep them fed, warm and a roof over their head. Therefore, no matter how high the costs of food, energy or rent rise to, the wages on offer must cover that. The UK government will be forced to increase the minimum wage to a sufficient level, or risk desperation, leading to rioting and social disorder.
The cycle continues, as businesses employing significant numbers of low-wage staff, like those in hospitality, must pay higher wages. Customer numbers will reduce as the wider population tightens its belt and defers luxuries, like eating out, in a drive to economise. Meanwhile, the prices on the menus increase to reflect the double-whammy of the rising costs of food and utility bills, in tandem with higher labour costs. It is a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop.
This is the predictable outcome of the market-driven economic system in the UK today. With no public option on offer, the private sector, acting as powerful conglomerates, answerable only to shareholders, and never the people they nominally serve, can be as ruthless and profit driven as the board allows them to be. Ordinary people are sacrificed on the altar of corporate dividends and profitability.
Choose public service over party politics
It is time to give up on the politicians who choose the party line over the needs of their constituents. Ordinary people must wrest back control at the local level. By following the recommendations in Lang’s report, a level of food sovereignty can be built and improved over time. Energy and housing requirements can also be addressed at the local level, with new social housing developed with district heating systems as a parallel system to the grid, side-stepping the artificially inflated bills of the corporate sector.
To do this, ordinary people must stand as independent candidates at the local council elections and attempt a coordinated campaign to achieve a working majority of likeminded independent candidates to take control of local councils. This provides the ability to utilise public land, education facilities, planning departments and local unemployed people to improve living standards, lower bills and build resilience and sovereignty.
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