'The Government aren't in the real world': Walsall residents' fears over U-turn on financial help

Newly appointed Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, declared that almost every proposal in Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget, announced just three weeks ago, would be scrapped.

Hunt's emergency statement has dramatically cut the cost of Mr Kwarteng’s £45 billion tax giveaway, reducing it by around £32 billion.

The proposed 45p tax cut for high earners has now been axed, and the promised two-year cap on energy bills has been reduced to just six months.

Both proposals have sparked controversy in the Black Country - the latter for being scrapped, and the former for being proposed in the first place.

In Walsall town centre, people spoke of their financial struggles and worries for the coming winter.

Jeanette Williams came to the UK as a refugee from Zimbabwe, and now lives in Walsall.

She lives on her own, and although the council pays for her tax and rent, she is struggling after a surge in her energy bills.

Jeanette, who is 79 and retired, said: "My electricity was £45 and now it's £112. And I'm on my own.

"I just think this country's in a mess. You don't know where to turn. I feel sorry for older people who are struggling, especially with the winter coming up.

"What are they going to do? Thank the Lord I've managed on what I've got, but I was in credit with the electric company and they wouldn't give me the credit back."

Energy bills are not the only concern for Jeanette, who added: "The cost of living food-wise is unbelievable. I'm really struggling. I came to this country with nothing, I was a refugee.

"I feel sorry for people with families - people that are on their own, single parents. I just think the whole world's a mess."

Asked whether she had any trust in Liz Truss's Government, the 79-year-old replied: "No. They say one thing and the next day it's changed. I think [Liz Truss] is useless."

Pauline and Trevor Baum from Great Barr are also retired - Pauline a former accounts clerk, and Trevor a retired plumber.

They believe that the Government has done nothing in the cost of living crisis to help pensioners.

79-year-old Pauline said: "They don't seem to be doing anything to help us.

"We're fortunate in as much as we're not on the poverty line, but we're having to watch what we do.

"If we hadn't got his private pension, we would be up the swanny."

Pauline said she did not receive a full pension, having paid two years' less in married women's stamps than was required.

Both Pauline and Trevor, 80, believe they know why the Government's plans have been catastrophically received.

"The Government aren't in the real world," Pauline said. "They don't know what it's like to have to go without.

"They haven't got a clue what it's like to worry about the bills. There were times when we didn't have change for the metre, and you want to die. They don't know anything about that.

"They don't think about the ordinary folks. The 45p tax cut for high earners - it's like they said 'we'll help you because you're like us'.

"They're upper class, we're working class. They drink champagne, and we look through the supermarket for the cheapest bottle of wine."

Trevor, an 80-year-old former plumber, added: "We could do with another Government, I think. [Liz Truss] doesn't seem to know what she's doing."

"It's almost like she's a puppet and someone else is pulling the strings, telling her what to do," Pauline said.

Trish Keady from Oxley in Wolverhampton, works at Steps to Work, a charity which helps people struggling with employment and mental health.

The 45-year-old said: "I'm okay, but it's seeing the difference with people you know. The job that I do, it's working with people that have maybe lost their job, or they're finding it difficult and it's affecting their mental health.

"You're hearing so many stories about people struggling just to get by. Thinking about the impact this will have on the elderly or the vulnerable and their mental health - let alone families.

"It's awful - it's probably half someone's wage. It's the difference between shall I put the heating on and the electric, or shall I eat? That'll be the difference.

"I don't have much faith in the Government, per se. They're sending no confidence to the general public."

And 25-year-old Hannah Rachel, an NHS support worker from Walsall, is already feeling the pinch at work.

Hannah, who has a 15-month-old baby called Luna, has been demoted from a band three support worker to a band two support worker, alongside the rest of her colleagues.

The 25-year-old said: "I struggle obviously, especially having a baby who's just turned one. And I work in the NHS as well so we're really being hit at every single angle we possibly could.

"They've already cut us down on the NHS side - because we were originally band three support workers, and they've put us all down to band two. So they're making cuts within the NHS in other ways.

"So I'll be really honest, it's horrible at the moment because everything's just so tight. Both me and my husband work and we've both worked since we were young, which means we don't get any benefits or support from the Government."

Hannah is struggling, but said that she has "managed to scrape together" enough for her daughter to go to nursery.

She added: "Food shops have gone up a lot, and baby formula has gone way up. Formula's skyrocketed up, baby food's skyrocketed up.

"I rely on my gran to be honest, my gran helps me out. Again, with her, it's affecting her - her energy bills have tripled.

"So it's hard to try and make that balance - trying to support a young family, the older generation, and the middle generation."