Stephen Morgan MP has blasted the government today for ‘failing to deliver for working people’ in its autumn budget, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer earlier this afternoon.
The Portsmouth MP underlined that working people have ‘never paid so much for so little’.
It comes as the cost of living for people in Portsmouth continues to spiral, with a cut to universal credit in October, rising fuel costs, inflation expected to reach as high as 4% in 2022 and the highest sustained tax burden in peace time.
Four in ten households on Universal Credit are facing a 13 per cent rise in their energy bills in the same month as their benefit is cut by £20 a week.
The Official Opposition has said the government has ‘got its priorities wrong’ and said they would focus on easing pressure on households and businesses. Their plan includes abolishing VAT on domestic energy bills for six months to help people get through the winter months and cutting Business Rates next year.
It comes as the Portsmouth MP’s office revealed earlier this month, based on a breakdown of data from the Office for National Statistics, that up to 174 of businesses are at risk in the local representative’s constituency of Portsmouth South alone.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan MP, said:
“This budget is yet another example of the government’s failure to improve the daily lives of working people in Portsmouth. Never have they paid so much, for so little.
“Families across our city will be feeling the pinch this winter as the government continues to struggle to get to grips with rising fuel prices and the cost of living.
“Today we saw nothing to reduce the burden on working people with no VAT reduction on their energy bills. Little comfort for those on NHS waiting lists. Nothing to be seen on community policing and no real action to tackle the climate emergency.
“Where the Chancellor has failed, Labour will tax fairly, spend wisely, and get our economy firing on all cylinders.
In response to today’s budget announcement, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, said:
“Families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, businesses hit by a supply chain crisis, those who rely on our schools and our hospitals and our police – they won’t recognise the world that the Chancellor is describing. They will think that he is living in a parallel universe.
“Time and again today, the Chancellor compared the investments that he is making to the last decade. But who was in charge in this lost decade? They were.”
Labour’s offer:
- We’ll Buy, Make and Sell More in Britain by bringing jobs back to this country and awarding public contracts to British businesses, and create hundreds of thousands of secure jobs in low-carbon industries that tackle the challenge of climate change.
- We’ll bring in a New Deal for Working People so people earn a proper wage, have job security, and can balance work with their lives with a right to flexible working. And we’ll always make sure work pays.
- We’ll deliver efficient, modern public services that drive up standards in schools, hospitals, transport and the places we live and work.
- We’ll always be on the side of British business, which is where wealth is created and where the jobs are created. We will work together with industry in a national endeavour to remake Britain and to seize the opportunities of the future.
- And we will get real value for money for the taxpayer and stop the waste that is prolific under this government, with a new Office for Value for Money and strong fiscal rules. We will say how every commitment we make will be paid for.
- In contrast to this Conservative government, Labour will tax fairly, spend wisely, and get our economy firing on all cylinders.
