Wallasey MP, Angela Eagle, and Birkenhead MP, Mick Whitley, have both responded to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement.
Angela Eagle MP said, “With inflation forecast to hit 9% by the end of the year, the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the largest decline in UK real living standards on record since 1956/57 forcing my constituents to go without food and heating.
“With more pressure to come from a forecast further huge rise in energy prices, the Chancellor’s Spring Statement completely failed to grapple with the real hardships ahead, especially for those on more modest incomes.
“Whilst the 5p cut to Fuel Duty is welcome, it is temporary tinkering compared to the increases my constituents face.
“His decision to go ahead with increases in National Insurance Contributions will put those at work and those who give them jobs in a much harder position.
“Despite claiming he’s a tax cutting Chancellor, this Chancellor has raised the tax burden as a percentage of gross domestic product to the highest level since the late 1940’s.
“He should’ve taken the opportunity today to levy a one-off windfall tax on the completely unearned profits of gas and oil companies, to help my Wallasey constituents through an incredibly difficult year.
“As my constituents face the biggest squeeze in living standards on record and the highest tax burden for 70 years, all the Chancellor has to offer is tinkering around the edges.”
Mick Whitley greeted Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement with considerable disdain, “The Chancellor had an opportunity today to provide some badly-needed relief for my constituents who are grappling with the worst cost of living crisis in decades. He failed miserably.
“The Spring Statement contained nothing of substance to support the lowest-earners – no uprating of benefits to catch up with spiralling inflation, no help for pensioners to heat their homes, and no steps to cut energy bills even as household bills rise fourteen times faster than wages.
“Rather than taking the decisive action that’s needed to address the scale of the crisis confronting us, Rishi Sunak sought to bolster his party’s chances in the next election with a commitment to shaving a penny off the basic rate of income tax in 2024. That might play well with disaffected Tory backbenchers, but it means little to the millions of ordinary people who are struggling to make ends meet today.
“That’s not to say that there were no winners today: big business, private landlords, and the most well-off will no doubt be happy with what their friend in the Treasury has delivered for them. Meanwhile, my constituents in Birkenhead are being asked to shoulder the biggest tax burden in seventy-years.
“Britain’s billionaire Chancellor just hasn’t a clue.”
Andrew Barr, wealth planner at Succession Wealth, said, “Sunak is boxed in, and is signalling his intentions now with the Budget and 2024 election on the horizon. Tax reform feels like it’s being lined up for the next Budget.
“Having inflation under control by 2024 feels bold given where we are. What we’re really talking about is a more manageable level of inflation – so people will have to get used to it, and knocking on their employers’ doors for pay rises. This will of course have an impact on businesses and investment markets.”
Martin Lewis, The Money Saving Expert gave his response in the following video:
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