The high cost of living is still biting the UK. Many don't think the election will change anything

LONDON -- Dominic Watters watches his gas and electricity meter like a hawk. He topped it up a few days ago, but now there’s just 1.85 pounds ($2.40) of credit left. That may determine what kind of dinner he and his teen daughter get tonight, he says.

Watters, a campaigner for better access to nutritious food, is a single dad in Canterbury in southern England who relies on government welfare. He knows microwave meals don’t compare to home-cooked dinners, but sometimes he simply cannot afford to use the gas stove or oven.

“It’s become more and more of a struggle, especially for single parents on benefits,” he said. “It leaves you feeling stranded. It doesn’t allow you enough to pay for fresh fruit and vegetables, and also to pay for the gas and electric to cook the food.”

Since calling a general election for July 4, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been at pains to repeat a key message on the campaign trail: The economy is turning a corner. Inflation is down. Things are looking up.

That’s not the reality for Watters and millions across the U.K. still feeling the squeeze from high food, energy and housing prices. The persistent cost-of-living crisis is a top concern for voters in the parliamentary election, when they will choose lawmakers to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons, and the leader of the party that can command a majority — either alone or in coalition — will become prime minister.

While Sunak's Conservatives are widely expected to lose after 14 years in power, the dire state of the economy — combined with a deep disillusionment with politics and politicians among voters — means that the prevailing mood ahead of the election is one of malaise, not excitement or hope for change, even if the opposition Labour Party wins.

Although inflation has returned to near-normal levels after skyrocketing in recent years, energy bills and items on store shelves still cost more than they did before the pandemic, when they started their steep climb. And while wages are starting to rise, mortgages and rents have soared along with interest rates, taking large chunks out of many household incomes.

Coral Dyer, a psychologist who has a young child, was among shoppers lining up to buy 1-pound ($1.30) bowls of fresh vegetables at a bustling street market in Lewisham in south London on a recent day.

“It’s much cheaper than the supermarket, and you get a lot more,” she said. Money’s becoming tighter, she added, with her income just about covering high day care fees.

Dyer, 37, laughed and shook her head when asked if she agreed with Sunak’s upbeat message.