Stephen Morgan MP has labelled the Chancellor as the ‘pickpocket’ of working people and families in Portsmouth following policies announced in the Autumn Statement today.
The Office for Budget Responsibility set out in its fiscal outlook alongside the statement that Real Household Disposable Income per person is set to fall by more than 7% over the next two years.
Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal studies (IFS), highlighted that this would be the biggest fall on record, returning incomes to 2013 levels.
The IFS boss also underlined that tax is also set to hit record levels as a fraction of national income.
It comes as the UK is forecast to have the lowest growth in the OECD over the next two years and is the only G7 country still smaller than before the pandemic – every other G7 economy is now bigger than it was at end of 2019.
Labour has a long-term plan to get the country’s economy growing again – powered by the talent and effort of millions of working people and thousands of businesses:
- With jobs across the country in renewables, nuclear power, in insulating homes
- With a modern industrial strategy working hand in hand with business
- By fixing business rates so our high streets thrive again
- Putting skills at the heart of our plan for growth
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“As we arrive at the end of 2022, we are in an even worse place than where we started: inflation spiralling, growth plunging and living standards falling.
“Britain is a great country, with fantastic strengths, but because of this government’s mistakes, we are being held back.
“What people in Portsmouth will be asking themselves at the next general election is this: Am I and my family better off with the Tories? And the answer is no.
“In today’s Autumn Statement, the Conservatives have pocketed the purses and wallets of the entire country, as the Chancellor deployed a raft of new stealth taxes taking billions from working people.
“The mess we are in is not just a result of 12 weeks of Conservative chaos, but 12 years of Conservative economic failure: growth dismal, investment down, wages squeezed, public services crumbling.
“After everything we have heard today, the only conclusion we can come to is Britain can no longer afford a Conservative government.”
