Working People’s Finances: Government Policy

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 21st September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

Hard-working people are facing a triple whammy this winter: rising fuel bills, a national insurance rise, and a £1,000 cut to universal credit. Even before the pandemic, my constituency of Manchester, Gorton had some of the highest rates of fuel poverty in the country, with almost a quarter of families classed as fuel-poor. Across the UK, 3 million households struggle to pay their energy bills, and it is predicted that as many as half a million families could slip into fuel poverty as the temperature drops and bills skyrocket this winter.

In the face of the gas supply crisis, maintaining the energy price cap is welcome, but it will not be enough. As a minimum, the Government should make the £140 warm homes discount automatic and extend it to give more people peace of mind this winter. While the energy price cap may be fair, for many families it is no longer affordable, and in just a matter of weeks it will be at the highest-ever level. As a result, hard-working families already struggling to stretch pay cheques to the end of the month will be forced to make an impossible choice between heating or eating.

To make matters worse still, the CO₂ shortages will mean that supermarket shelves could be empty in the coming days as food shortages hit the market. In Manchester, Gorton this will mean more vulnerable people being forced to access food banks. Food bank usage is at an all-time high. It is a disgrace that in the 21st century families and children have become so dependent on charity to survive. Manchester’s own Marcus Rashford has done so much over the past year to shine a light on the shameful rise of food bank usage, and it is time the Government listened. Being unable to buy food is not an issue with the high cost of living. It is much more fundamental than that: it is about the cost of surviving.

The escalation of fuel bills and the rising cost of living means that the Conservatives’ plan to cut universal credit is no longer just indefensible; it is now unconscionable. The Business Secretary himself has admitted that this

“could be a very difficult winter.”

So the question remains why his Cabinet colleagues will not intervene to alleviate the financial burden on working people and cancel the cut.

This morning, my constituent Alisha emailed me. She is a universal credit claimant and scared at what the cut will mean for her and her daughters. She wrote:

“it will mean I will go without food or warmth so my girls may suffer less…we go without luxuries and each month is a struggle. Our future is bleak. I just hope I can hold on for them.”

Alisha is one of hundreds of constituents who have written to me terrified about their future and worried about how they will get by this winter.

The Resolution Foundation reminds us that to govern is to choose, and I know that my constituents will never forget that the Tory Government have chosen to push millions of hard-working families into poverty. However, it is not too late. There is still time to cancel the cut.