Hard-up pensioner Melanie Roberts, 73, says her fortunes would change if she left Britain and returned across the Channel on a small boat. She survives on a basic state pension of £184.90 a week and is so short of cash she eats at a local church cafe and brings home leftovers.
'I would get looked after'
Melanie, who has lived near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire for 43 years, said: "I know it might sound silly but if I were to go to France and come back on the dinghy I would get looked after. I certainly wouldn't have to worry about paying the electricity or buying food."
She said: "It makes me angry and feel like I don't want to get up in the morning because I don't just know what battles I will face. I wake up each day and think how am I going to manage - how am I going to keep warm today?"
Struggling to make ends meet
Melanie has an open fire and scavenges wood to burn to heat her home because her biggest outgoing is electricity. She said: "And it is not just me. I see other people coming to the church cafe and they are all struggling but, like me, too proud to ask for help."
Like millions of pensioners across Britain she is worried about what happens if, as Labour has hinted, the triple lock mechanism which increases the state pension annually by the highest of either 2.5%, the rate of inflation or average earnings, is scrapped to save cash.
'Pensioners have been left on the brink'
She said: "I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory but it feels like the Government is trying to phase out pensioners, to make life more difficult. As you get older it gets harder, you haven't got the same energy levels and less and less money."
She added: "Instead of getting rid of the triple lock they should be promising to keep it because for many it is their only hope. I don't have anything left over at the end of the week and food isn't a priority because I am of the generation who thinks it is right to pay all bills first."
Melanie said she cuts back on anything she can, keeping lights off to save electricity and only using the microwave when needed. She said: "If I wasn't able to get cheaper food, I don't know what I would do. I can't see where the help is coming from. Pensioners have been left on the brink because they have been asked to manage with less as bills get bigger. Life has become one big struggle and it shouldn't be like this."
