Stephen Morgan MP has called on the government to halt the National Insurance rise set to hit families this April and implement a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas to stop energy bills rising over the next year.
The Portsmouth MP wrote to the Chancellor on Thursday, urging him to cancel the rise in National Insurance contributions by 1.25 per cent from next month, which will cost families in Portsmouth and across the UK an average of £500 per year. The city MP also called for Rishi Sunak to implement Labour’s plan, which would save 18,539 homes in Portsmouth South alone up to £600 off bills in total.
It comes as inflation spirals, the cost-of-living crisis grows and government refused to cancel the National Insurance rise on Tuesday, as Labour used its Opposition Day Debate to urge the government to halt its planned increase this April.
Labour’s plan to cut the cost of energy bills, funded by a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas, would also increase and expand the Warm Home’s Discount, targeting extra support to the squeezed middle, pensioners and the lowest earners.
Labour analysis has found that the £444 increase in energy bills expected in the next financial year for a household that receives the government’s loan and council tax scheme would still be more than £1,000 worse off in 2022/23.
In addition, the Resolution Foundation has also said that the average combined impact of the freeze to income tax thresholds and the 1.25 per cent increase in personal National Insurance contributions is £600 per household.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“Families and businesses in Portsmouth are facing an energy price crisis because a decade of failed Conservative energy policy has left us deeply vulnerable as a country.
“Labour wants to help ease the cost-of-living crisis. That’s why we’re calling on the government to halt the national insurance rise before it’s too late.
“This perfect storm created by Ministers could be weathered if the Chancellor had the courage to do the right thing, cancel the national insurance hike and back working people by implementing Labour’s plan.”
