Condom prices are going up – is there nothing young people can enjoy?

Making condoms more expensive will have a serious impact on the health and wellbeing of the millions who use them to practise safe sex

When times are tough and wages aren’t quite stretching to the end of the month, it can be comforting to remember the age-old adage: “The best things in life are free.”

Or rather, it might have been, once, for in the murky uncertainty of post-pandemic existence, it’s increasingly clear that there’s no such thing as getting something for nothing.

In recent years, a generation of Brits have been priced out of the housing market by a cost-of-living crisis that’s crept insidiously across the country while the government kept its foot on more pressing pedals: Brexit, Covid, Boris Johnson-related scandals.

Many of us have come to accept the grim reality that, despite years of education and seemingly interminable working hours, we may never be able to afford a home of our own. The salve to this egregious wound is to live as well as we can within the confines of our ever-dwindling budgets, enjoying the “little things” like sunshine, beach walks, and the world’s oldest gratis pastime: fun between the sheets.

But two months into a year that appears hellbent on recreating the carnage of those that went before it, even our carnal endeavours are under threat.

On Thursday, Durex manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser warned of a range-wide price hike fuelled by mounting production costs. The chief executive of the world’s most iconic condom brand did his best to reassure, insisting the company hopes to absorb some of the increase, before ultimately conceding that much of the price will be passed onto the loyal, long-suffering customer. No surprise there, then.

It goes without saying that not all red-blooded Britons will feel the pinch of pricier condoms. But for the 27 per cent of us who rely on them as their primary form of contraception, it’s another blow to an already battered quality of life.

Unless you’re planning to compete in this year’s Commonwealth Games, for which organisers have pre-emptively ordered 150,000 condoms to be doled out to athletes free of charge, a standard box of rubbers in your local chemist will set you back £9.99. There’s no word yet on how significant the Durex price hike will be, but even as it stands it is obvious that its products are putting a dent in the pockets of its poorest customers.

Soaring inflation – now at its highest in nearly 30 years – is crippling millions of low and middle income earners with unprecedented pressure. According to a survey from the Office of National Statistics, 76 per cent of Brits said their cost of living had increased over the past month, a squeeze driven largely by surging energy bills and skyrocketing food prices.

We’ve struggled with stagnant living standards for years, yet after more than a decade the only wisdom from Westminster is to hike taxes, raise interest rates – and stick a giant pin in our sex lives by doing so.

Despite the myriad options now available, condoms remain the second most popular method of contraception for women aged 15 to 49 in the UK, and the only one that protects against sexually transmitted disease.

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It may seem inconsequential against a backdrop of government controversies, climate crises, and the threat of war in Ukraine, but making condoms more expensive will have a serious impact on the health and wellbeing of the millions who use them to practise safe sex.

As usual, society’s most vulnerable will bear the brunt of elite incompetence. Raising retail prices instead of tackling our nose-diving economy in a holistic way means less people will have access to condoms, which will cause a plethora of problems including increased transmission of STIs and higher rates of unplanned pregnancies.

If parliament saw fit to bump the energy price cap by £693 in one fell swoop, they’re unlikely to lose sleep over our safety between the sheets, so it’s down to people of all genders and orientations to demand better from those who can make a difference. If all else fails, you could always try your luck at the Commonwealth Games.