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THE Big Issue is struggling to stay afloat amid the crippling cost-of-living crisis, founder John Bird warned today.
The campaigning magazine has been forced to undergo “enormous transformation” to survive slumping sales following the Covid-19 pandemic and a surge in living costs, the cross-bench peer said.
The three-decade-old publication, which combats homelessness and other issues, launched a subscription service after the health crisis prevented its vendors from selling copies in the street.
It is also providing sellers with direct financial support and supermarket vouchers alongside a subsidy scheme to increase their earnings as inflation tops 10 per cent.
Mr Bird told the Observer newspaper: “Many of our vendors need support and help, and we’re doing our best to do that.”
The businessman, who experienced homelessness as a child, branded the convergence of Brexit, coronavirus, the war in Ukraine and last year’s Tory leadership psychodrama as a “kind of shitstorm all coming together.”
He also demanded government action to prevent struggling households being evicted, warning: “If hundreds of thousands are made homeless, then [the problem] completely goes off the Richter scale.”
