MPs respond to Chancellor’s measures to tackle cost of living crisis

DESPITE many saying the Chancellor’s Spring Statement doesn’t go far enough to tackle the cost of living crisis, Warrington South MP Andy Carter has welcomed the measures which he says will help local families, while Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols says “we deserve better!”

While Chancellor Rishi Sunak has raised the national insurance threshold by £3,000 and announced a cut in fuel duty tax by 5p a litre in an attempt to ease the cost of living crisis, it comes against the backdrop of the biggest fall in living standards in generations.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says inflation and new taxes will mean that “real household disposable incomes per person (will) fall by 2.2% in 2022-23”, the biggest drop in a single year since records began in 1956.

In his statement, the Chancellor set out the government’s plan for a stronger, more secure economy, while looking to support hard-working families with the rising cost of living.

He said UK economy was recovering strongly from the pandemic with the fastest growth in the G7 – but households globally were seeing increased living costs due to factors including covid and the global rise in gas prices.

He added a strong UK economy was also fundamental in enabling the United Kingdom to counter the threat that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin poses to our values.

Mr Carter said: “This is a welcome intervention from the Chancellor. He’s used the financial headroom a better performing economy has created to reduce and reform taxes.

“I am particularly pleased to see an increase in the National Insurance threshold by £3,000, giving 70% of workers and effective tax cut. The Chancellor also cut taxes on fuel duty by 5p per litre, the largest ever cut to fuel duty, helping motorists immediately with a reduction from 6pm tonight. The doubling of the existing household support fund also means we can also help more of the most vulnerable families through

“The situation in Ukraine has also reminded us that the United Kingdom’s security and ability to be a force for good in the world is in large part based on the strength of our economy. Thanks to all our actions, the economy is recovering well, with record job vacancies and unemployment back at pre-crisis levels, and I welcome these further measures to help support our economy, business and individuals.”

He said the government was helping families with the cost of living, creating the conditions for private sector-led growth, and sharing the proceeds of growth fairly:

Cutting fuel duty by 5p for 12 months – a £5 billion TAX CUT and largest fuel duty cut ever
Cutting National Insurance now – a £6 billion TAX CUT for 30 million working people across the UK from July, worth over £330 a year – 70 per cent of people will pay less tax even after the levy
Cutting the basic rate of Income Tax to 19p from 2024 – the first income TAX CUT for 16 years, a £5 billion tax cut for over 30 million workers, savers and pensioners
Cutting business employment taxes now by raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000 – a TAX CUT for half a million small businesses worth up to £1,000 per business
Cutting VAT on energy saving materials like solar – a TAX CUT only possible because of Brexit
Doubling the Household Support Fund to £1 billion for councils to support the most vulnerable
Creating the conditions for private sector-led growth – through Autumn Budget TAX CUTS on business capital investment and R&D.

Meanwhile, Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols responded: “On the day that we had it confirmed that inflation has hit a 30 year high even before the full impacts of the war in Ukraine are felt, we should have expected urgent support from the Government to protect the public from their cost-of-living crisis. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that we are looking at the biggest fall in living standards since records began in the 1950s: by any definition, this called for urgent and major action.

“Instead after the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, we are all asking “is that it”?

“He’s cut fuel duty by 5p which is less than the rise over the past six months, cut VAT on some insulation improvements and made a comparatively small amount of money available for grants to lower-income families.

“These measures will help some, but do absolutely nothing for millions of others.

“His changes to VAT and income tax are so blunt that only £1 in £3 of his change to NI thresholds will go to the bottom half of incomes, and overall, it means raising taxes on workers to cut taxes for people with unearned incomes like landlords.

“And yet we heard nothing about increasing benefits like Universal Credit for people on the lowest incomes for whom inflation bites the hardest.

“We heard nothing about taxing the vast windfall profits of the oil and gas companies who are making more money than they know what to do with from rising fuel prices.

“We heard nothing about stopping the huge amounts lost to fraud and error under this Chancellor. The anti-fraud Minister resigned in January saying the Treasury had been “nothing less than woeful” in allowing £11.8 billion to be wasted and stolen, a truly staggering amount.

“This was an inadequate statement from a Chancellor whose economic plans are failing – growth was slashed from the 6% forecast in October to just 3.8% – who should have done far more to protect the British people. In facing this unprecedented hit to living standards, the Office for Budget Responsibility states that the Chancellor has confirmed the highest tax burden since the 1940s. We deserve better.”