The strain of the cost-of-living crisis in Britain’s households is now being felt. And the recently published numbers by the Office for National Statistics show just how bad it is already with household bills.

About four in 10 British households are finding it difficult to pay for gas and electricity and a similar proportion are buying less food.

The Office for National Statistics survey in the two weeks to April 24th showed that 40 per cent of people who pay energy bills said they found it very or somewhat difficult to afford the payments.

What is just as startling is that about the same proportion of people in the same survey also reported that in the past two weeks they were buying less food when shopping.

In total, this was affecting 44 per cent of adults.

These numbers are the first comprehensive indication of the impact of the change in the energy bill cap set by the regulator and of the increase in national insurance contributions, along with other inflationary pressures.

Household savings are now been drawn down at a greater speed than on record – and at the same time, household debt is rising faster than at any time on record.

Economic growth in Britain is slowing because household consumption is screeching to a halt in a very large percentage of Britain’s 28 million households. The sudden increase in household bills is looking more and more like a recession is next.