Why is the cost of living in Britain so high?

	Why is the cost of living in Britain so high? Britain is fast becoming one of the most expensive countries in the world to live. Today, in The Times, a report claims that, in terms of price per MB dowloaded, the cost of broadband in the UK is much higher than anywhere else in Europe and people living in outlying rural areas are being mislead about the speed of service which they can receive. At the same time, a report claims that train companies are coluding over fare rises; the average "walk-on" fare on Virign trains from London to Manchester is now almost the equivalent of the air fare from London to New York. Do we blame overzealous, greedy UK firms or are there much more complex economics involved? Asked By: Christopher P - 6/30/2007

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I'm surprised there are so many racists answering this question - but their ignorance shows in the poverty of their answers (I think that is is just an accurate statement by the way, not abuse). Immigration has helped keep down price inflation in the UK by doing jobs that UK people dont want to do and facilitating faster economic growth than would have been possible (a positive supply-side shock). Comparing the true cost of living between countries is difficult and depends to a large extent on exchange rates. At the moment the dollar is very weak relative to all other currencies. Anywhere which has a dollar based economy appears to be cheap to someone from the UK. At the same time the euro is very strong - most comparable countries in Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland) are actually expensive places to go for most people from the UK if you weigh everything together. Of course the relative prices of things differs within and between countries. In the UK we dont subsidise transport (or Broadband) with public money the way they do in many other countries - so those items can seem very expensive by comparison. But just about all Western European countries pay much more in tax than we do - yes thats right, despite what some of the previous answers claim, the UK has one of the lowest overall tax rates in Western Europe. But things like food and clothes are relatively cheap in the UK ( although you can pay as high prices for designer stuff and higher quality food as you want). Also education and health services are free in the UK whereas in the US and some continental countries most people pay. So for some things the cost of living is much lower in the UK, even allowing for the exchange rate. The truth is that not only is the standard of living in the UK at an all-time high (thats what one would expect, its not exceptional) the relative standard of living in the UK vis-a-vis comparable countries has also increased significantly over the past 10-15 years. Anyone who lived through the seventies and eighties must know just how much the economy has improved. One thing is that the cost of housing in the UK is relatively high, especially around London - which is booming as an econmomy - and some people confuse that with the overall cost of living. The majority of people in the UK are very well off compared with where they would be doing their same jobs in other countries, if they just looked and listened instead of complaining all the time. Sorry but I do feel strongly about this, especially after seeing such repulsive answers from others. Answered By: inthetrade - 6/30/2007

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Cos someone has to pay for the immigrants to have new cars and phones etc Answered By: ஐ♥Chemical Romance♥ஐ - 6/30/2007

Blame Labour! Answered By: Get Orf Moi Land - 6/30/2007

They increase prices so they can take the tax and give it away to immigrants basically Answered By: sammie_7x - 6/30/2007

Down to more and more taxes imposed on the business community which are passed on to the consumer who then need a pay rise so its a vicious circle created by government Answered By: minty359 - 6/30/2007

Tax so that we can pay for all the imigrants to have council houses and flash cars Answered By: izzabellesangels - 6/30/2007

We are supposed to have a free market economy but the government keeps meddling and putting controls on things when there is no need. Plus they have to hire an army of civil servants to administer all the laws and regulations. This all forces prices up. Answered By: malcolm g - 6/30/2007

Cos the bloody government insist on us paying excessive taxes on just about anything we do or buy or earn etc.. It's time we all took a stand and said "Oi Brown bugger off" you fat scottish rip off merchant.. Answered By: ANDY F - 6/30/2007

Governments are only interested in getting re-elected. - The biggest pool of votes are poor. - The most gullible voters are poorly educated and or poor. - 25?f the working population are now employed by the state, a high percentage unproductively employed. So increase taxes and tell the poor they are going to get more "benefits", so please vote for us! So we are now in the situation where about 50?f our money is taken away from us - for a big percentage to be given back to gullible potential voters, who do not realise some of it will be taken back from them in taxes! So in simple terms we are now an expensive country because we need to earn twice as much as is needed to live on reasonably, as we have to support the Government as well. They do not realise that Governments have no money of their own, all of it has been taken from us in taxes! Every penny of Government waste has come from - our - pockets! A final thought. I think it is correct to say that not a single member of the new cabinet has ever worked in the (productive) private sector doing a real job. How on earth can they understand ordinary people - they don't care anyway, except at election time! Answered By: luludoodie - 6/30/2007

For a start this has nothing to do with immigrants and anyone who suggests it is, is simply an uneducated bigot. The purchase price of items is high, so begins the spiral. Expectation of goods we want/need/demand is there, but wages have to be high to give us the required purchasing power. Landlords also have to keep pace, as do service providers and transport companies. Then there is pressure on prices, which results in yet more pressure on wages, which go up and bring about more pressure to raise prices. Are you beginning to get the picture ? Our expectations and our levels of luxury are higher today than they have ever been. A person on supplimentary benefit will have luxuries today that a family with two wage earners in the 1960s could only dream about. Technology and production techniques have made many luxury items very cheap for the whole world. (a colour TV is cheaper today than it was in 1965 and compare mobile phones now with 1990) Virgin trains are expensive, but you can fly from here to Germany for 50 euro cents plus taxes....OK that works out to about 60 quid, but to me it seems like a bit of a deal. Some things here may seem a bit ropey from time to time, but I think in general we get a pretty good shake of the dice. N.B. Tax in Holland is over 50?nd in Germany for many years (with the absorbtion of the East) it was around 61? Source(s): Apart from the UK, I have lived in Germany, Spain, Holland and Sri Lanka during the last 15 years Answered By: John A - 6/30/2007

It's more than UK firms but not that complex. The British system is becoming more and more socialistic by the day. Your NHS is a classic example. Socialist programs cost lots of money. Your taxes are high, and businesses' taxes are high. Businesses pass on their extra costs to you, because they still feel as if they should get some profit. British executives want to make comparable money to their American counterparts. That's why your goods are expensive. Immigration is not a major factor in rising costs. If anything the immigrants bring your cost of living down because they do jobs that locals don't want to do. Or the locals would demand more money etc. Your labor force is cheaper as a result. If only native Brits constituted your labor force your products would be three, four times as much potentially (or more) due to the extra costs that businesses would incur. The positive impact in terms of costs that immigrants have on the UK economy (or any European economy) is far greater than the negative impact in terms of having to cover their health insurance costs, etc. Percentage wise there are far more native Brits draining the unemployment system than immigrants. The immigrants may degrade the culture of Europe but that is a different story. Anytime a government guarantees things to virtually everyone, even the poor, the costs that the poor can't cover get passed on to those with money. Nothing's for free. Answered By: Blindman - 6/30/2007

The answer is not immigration, sorry but whoever said that is just .... lets say they shouldn't be answering questions about ecomonics. it is probably due to high inflation in britian. high inflation causes cost of living higher. Many can not meet the demands Source(s): A recent report by Ernst & Young found that over the past five years the average UK family has borne mortgage costs up by 66?motoring costs up by a third, and some household utility costs up by 50?Officially, however, annual inflation is now running at just 2.5?If you can't match the Government's official data to your own cost of living, you're not alone. "Fixed monthly household costs continue to outstrip inflation and have risen by more than 30?n the last five years," says Ernst & Young's Tim Sleep. And since when did your council tax bill have the decency to increase in line with the Consumer Price Index – the CPI measure of inflation now used by the Government? You might wonder how the Government, like governments all over the world, gets away with claiming that inflation is running much lower than your own experience tells you. The real swindle, says the Bank of International Settlements – the Swiss-based banking organisation – lies in removing property costs from the cost of living data: http://www.dailyreckoning.co.uk/article/030820061.html Answered By: bhai j - 6/30/2007

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