Labour puts pressure on Sunak to ease household cost of living pressures in Budget
Labour has put pressure on Rishi Sunak to do more to ease household cost of living pressures in the autumn Budget as MPs hit out at the Treasury for releasing large parts of tomorrow’s announcement early.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Bridget Phillipson today called on the government to cut VAT on energy bills and to bring forward business rate cuts to help Brits struggling with spiralling living costs.
Rising energy costs, above expected inflation and a £1,000 a-year cut to Universal Credit mean that some of the country’s poorest households are in for a very tough winter.
Sunak has already announced he will increase public sector pay next year and increase the National Living Wage from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour as a part of his Budget.
The Treasury says the increase will mean a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will make £1,000 more a year from April.
However, Labour claims the increase will be completely wiped out by the cut in Universal Credit, the 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance and the freeze in the income tax personal allowance.
“Families and businesses are waiting and hoping for the chancellor to take the action they need and our country desperately needs,” Phillipson said.
“The silence is deafening on the soaring bills and rising prices facing families and businesses.”
She called for business rates to be cut in tomorrow’s Budget and for VAT to be cut on energy bills.
Sunak’s deputy Simon Clarke told MPs: “We have the energy price cap, which is protecting households with up to £100 a year off their bills – that’s the right thing to do.
“When it comes to business rates, we will be having the upshot of the review that has been conducted – the fundamental review of how we get this right.”
The government was also criticised in the chamber by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and MPs of both parties for releasing swathes of the Budget early.
Sunak’s Treasury press team have put out a stream of spending announcements over the past five days, which have revealed around £30bn of spending that will be in Wednesday’s autumn Budget.
Hoyle issued a stark warning to the chancellor last night and doubled down today, saying he was “disappointed” that more announcements were put out today and that “if the government continues to treat this house in a discourteous manner I will do everything in my power to ensure ministers are called here…to explain themselves”.