People in Sheffield attempting suicide over cost of living crisis, says city MP

Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, said: “I spent yesterday morning at a crisis meeting in a part of my constituency where incomes are lowest. And we were looking at the way in which the cost-of-living crisis we’re facing was impacting on people.

“It was a meeting involving the voluntary sector, energy advisers, food banks, debt advisers, schools, housing providers, local councillors and more.

“And we talked about the very real struggle that people are facing to feed families and pay bills. The impact it was having on mental health. The people who had previously just been managing, but couldn’t see the way in which that was going to continue.

“We talked about suicide attempts as a consequence and which… they’d been faced (with) in the constituency. We talked about the exploitation of people’s hardship by loan sharks as a re-emerging problem.”

Later in the debate Conservative MP Miriam Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge) said: “The heartbreaking stories we’ve heard in today’s debate, for example those shared by the member for Sheffield Central, do show that we do need to do more.

"And I particularly think that we should urgently review Universal Credit rates.”

The cost of living crisis has seen people across the country struggling to pay bills and buy food as petrol and energy prices rocket, leaving many having to chose whether to heat their homes or feed families.