How the cost of living crisis is pushing Mancunians to the edge

Noah has a lot of energy for a toddler who’s just marched around Manchester. He’s pestering his mum, Chantelle I’Anson-Hughes, to go and play on the roundabout in Piccadilly Gardens.

After three or four dashes to the play area, she relents and unclips him from his harness so he can run around. Like most four-year-olds, Noah wants adventure — and toys. But toys are not something Chantelle can afford. Fresh fruit and vegetables aren’t either — the mum-of-two from Accrington has to grow her own.

“He has been asking for toys and I cannot afford it,” she tells the Manchester Evening News . “It is now everything, it’s ridiculous. We are all feeling it. I cannot afford these things any more.

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“It’s getting worse and worse. Uniform is not cheap. Jumpers costing a fortune. We are having to make sure that it lasts. Everything is getting really, really expensive. The sun coming out will give us a break.

“We do forage instead of buying fruit. We grow potatoes, tomatoes, spring onions, apples, and pears.”

Standing with Chantelle is Sonia Griffin, who also has travelled from Lancashire to the city. The Blackburn mum-of-two teenagers, with another baby on the way, is also feeling the squeeze.

She explains: “The cost of living is exceeding my income. Everything is going up. They cannot kick people out on the street. I am worried about the next generation and the world is in chaos. I’m spending £300 on uniforms for the kids.” Sonia adds that she’s having to rescue second-hand clothes to give her secondary-school-age children an outfit for lessons.

Families aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch. One young man, with strikingly dyed red hair, says