Oral Answers to Questions

Christian Wakeford Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

17. What fiscal steps he is taking to help reduce the impact of inflation on households' cost of living.

[Christian Wakeford (Bury South) (Lab)]

19. What fiscal steps he is taking to help reduce the impact of inflation on households' cost of living.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

22. What fiscal steps he is taking to help reduce the impact of inflation on households' cost of living.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rishi Sunak]

As I said, we are providing an enormous amount of support—around £1,200—which is targeted at those who most need help. Of course, no Government can make the challenges go away completely, given the scale of the problem that we are facing, but I am confident that the support we have put in place is significant and will make a meaningful difference to those who most need it. The hon. Lady talks of the practical steps that we can all take to help with the cost of living. Perhaps her party could start by opposing the crippling rail strikes of the past week or two, which are doing nothing to ease the burdens of the cost of living on public sector workers.

[Christian Wakeford]

My constituents in Bury South have had inflicted on them tax and national insurance rises—the inadequate 5p cut to fuel duty barely touched the sides—by a Chancellor who has clearly run out of ideas, as we have just heard. With energy costs at record highs, and an expected further rise of up to 50% in the autumn that will mean the cap has almost trebled in under a year, what further assistance can be given to my constituents to ensure that nobody is cut off?

[Rishi Sunak]

I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that £37 billion of support is being targeted at the most vulnerable and will come over the next few months, from the summer through the autumn and winter, to help with the price cap. As we said, we do expect the cap to increase significantly in the autumn, which is why we have put the support in place. He talked about taxes, so he will be pleased to tell his constituents that in just a couple of weeks’ time, they will have their taxes cut when the national insurance threshold rises to £12,500, which will deliver a £330 tax cut to around 30 million people in work. That will start to put more money in people’s pay packets in July.