Some people have the perception that Romsey and its rural surroundings is an affluent area where most, if not all, residents live in relative comfort.

Admittedly, on the face of it, when compared to some other nearby areas, it is easy to see how that perception is formed.

Knocking on doors in parts of Southampton, as I have been spending a great deal of time doing lately, with the city’s local election campaign, is a stark reminder of the widening gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and the ever-increasing inequality in our society.

As costs keep rising and wages still struggle to keep pace, more and more people are being tipped into poverty and destitution.

A House of Commons Report released in April and using findings published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), found the number of people in ‘food insecure households’ rose to 7.2 million last year. An increase of 53% on the 4.7 million the previous year. That is an incredible 11 per cent of the UK population and includes 17% of the UK’s children.

Even more worryingly, a separate report by the JRF in October 2023 showed shameful increases in the level of destitution in the UK. Defined as 'struggling to afford to meet their most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed,' approximately 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including around one million children.

Whilst the perception of our town and the surrounding area maybe one of wealth and affluence, I know from my work as a councillor and Parliamentary candidate for the area, that deprivation is not neatly organised into wards or polling districts, as the index maps would have you believe. 

Pockets of deprivation exist everywhere. How many children have gone to our local schools today without breakfast in their belly, because their parents cannot afford it? How many of our elderly residents sit alone in the cold and the dark because they cannot afford the heating or lighting? How many of our working parents have not eaten today, so their children can.

The role of Government, any Government, is the creation of a safety net, and a society where people are offered support to ensure they, at the very least, have those basic physical needs met. At present many are falling through that safety net and instead having to rely on charities and some within our communities for the basics.

Geoff Cooper,

Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson for Romsey and Southampton North