Labour hits out at Boris Johnson for saying UK inflation fears are ‘unfounded’
Labour has attacked Boris Johnson for his allegedly complacent attitude on rising UK inflation, with deputy leader Angela Rayner hitting out at the Prime Minister for not easing the cost of living crunch for British families.
Rayner, who was filling in today for a Covid-positive Sir Keir Starmer, called out Johnson in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) for saying in October that fears over increasing UK inflation are “unfounded”.
She also called on the PM to slash VAT on energy bills to ease the cost of living crunch on families.
The Bank of England now expects annual inflation to reach 6.8 per cent in April – the highest level since the early 1990s – after hitting 5.1 per cent in December.
These price rises, underpinned by soaring energy bills, and a 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance are set to squeeze family budgets in 2022.
Rayner said Johnson had got it “wrong” in October when he said in a Sky News interview that fears about inflation in the past have been “unfounded”.
She also called for the Prime Minister to cancel the April National Insurance rise.
“The Prime Minister promised wage rises would offset inflation, they haven’t and they won’t. Millions of British workers now face a further pay cut and his chancellor is handing them a tax hike,” Rayner said.
“Working people across the country are starting the new year facing rising bills and ballooning prices, so how did he get it so wrong?”
Johnson said: “I said no such thing, because inflation is something we always have to be careful about. What we have to do is make sure we protect the people of this country throughout what is unquestionably going to be a difficult period and that’s why we’re ensuring we’re lifting the living wage by record sums.
“What we are focused on is delivering jobs for the British people and it is quite an extraordinary thing that there are now record numbers of people in work – 420,000 more than when the pandemic began. We have youth unemployment at a record low.”
Rayner also called on the Prime Minister to slash VAT on energy bills, after widespread predictions that household bills will rise by around 40 per cent when the energy price cap increases in April.
The cap will rise as the price of energy on global markets continues to soar.
It was pointed out at a press conference yesterday that Johnson wrote in The Sun during the 2016 Brexit referendum that leaving the EU would lead to lower fuel bills as VAT could be slashed.
VAT on energy bills cannot be changed by individual nations when they are in the EU.
Johnson refused to say today if he would slash VAT on energy bills, but indicated yesterday that it was not his preferred option.