Cost of Living Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Cost of Living

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts
Wednesday 27th November 2013

(10 years, 12 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Chris Leslie Portrait Chris Leslie
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My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth may have time later to elaborate on the quote. It may be incorrect, and we will see whether journalists want to look into that.

Andrew Gwynne Portrait Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right to list this Government’s catalogue of broken promises on the cost of living crisis, but the crisis is far worse than the spiralling energy bills and the rising cost of living. He was moving on to make the serious point that, at the same time as prices are increasing, people’s wages have plummeted since 2010 by about £1,600. Is that not the real cause of this cost of living crisis?

Chris Leslie Portrait Chris Leslie
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Absolutely. This is an unprecedented period—we can characterise it as record breaking—during which wages have not been able to keep pace with the costs our constituents are facing.