SHADOW chancellor Rachel Reeves said she sympathises with striking bin workers in their concerns about wages amid the cost of living crisis.

While visiting Worthing yesterday, which is in the grip of an ongoing bin strike, Ms Reeves said that workers do not take the decision to go on strike lightly and, like many, they are concerned that wages are not keeping up with the soaring costs at the supermarket and from energy providers.

She said: “I don’t think any working people go out on strike on a whim. They, like other families in Worthing, are worried about their wages not keeping up with the rising cost of living - and I have sympathy for them in that.”

She called on the council to “do what any sensible local authority would do” and work with refuse workers to come to a settlement to end the dispute.

“It’s not good for the council, it’s not good for the working people who are missing out on their wages, and it’s a nightmare for people who live in Worthing,” she said.

Her comments came as she visited the town to support Labour’s campaign for the local elections in May.

While visiting Worthing, Ms Reeves said that the government is doing nothing to provide real support for working people, and accused Chancellor Rishi Sunak of being “out of touch with ordinary people”.

After speaking to people at a local leisure centre, Ms Reeves spoke about one woman and her partner who both work several jobs to make ends meet but are still reliant on Universal Credit and have no prospect of buying their own home.

She also said that while both their parents own their homes outright, “what was possible for them doesn’t seem possible for their generation”.

Ms Reeves said: “That is a bit of an indictment that we are now in a position where there’s a generation of young people who don’t have the opportunities that their parents had.

Ms Reeves also spoke to Tracey Davie, operations manager of the Worthing Chamber of Commerce, who said businesses are being forced to go under as prices have increased.

She said that a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies would go a long way in helping working people deal with the rising cost of living.

“The current chief executive of BP said their company has more money than they know what to do with - I haven’t heard anyone in Worthing say that to me. Let’s tax them a bit more and use that money to keep bills low for families,” she said.

The Argus: Rachel Reeves joined party activists and Beccy Cooper, leader of the Labour group in Worthing, as their local election campaign gets underwayRachel Reeves joined party activists and Beccy Cooper, leader of the Labour group in Worthing, as their local election campaign gets underway

Ms Reeves joined party activists door knocking around the town ahead of the local elections on May 5, and said that Labour is “fighting for every single vote” in Worthing.

Labour’s group leader on Worthing Borough Council Beccy Cooper said that the party was “confident” of taking control of the council from the Conservatives on May 5.

Ms Reeves braced slightly treacherous conditions on her visit, with strong winds and a flurry of snow. She quipped to party activists that the weather was “warmer when I visited in January”.