Steve Reed, the environment secretary, is reported as saying that changes to living standards are happening, but for all too many people these are not materialising (‘We’ve made progress’: environment secretary is upbeat despite Labour’s struggles, 6 July).
In my part of inner-city Sheffield, residents are often in overcrowded and expensive housing, with energy and food bills at unaffordable levels for their precarious incomes. Our local environment is challenged by fly-tipping and vandalism, with which our austerity-struck council and services cannot keep up. A high proportion of our local residents cannot afford days out, let alone holidays when they might take their children swimming in the sea.
