Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Flick Drummond Excerpts
Tuesday 7th May 2024

(6 months, 3 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Gareth Davies Portrait Gareth Davies
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It is right to acknowledge that funding has gone in. I completely appreciate the specific challenges that coastal communities face, but it is important to look at the package of measures to level up—not just funding such as the shared prosperity fund, levelling-up fund and towns fund, but the 13 devolution deals, 13 investment zones and 12 freeports. These are all packages and measures that will help areas such as my hon. Friend’s, but I will always keep his area in mind.

Flick Drummond Portrait Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)
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11. What fiscal steps he is taking to support households with the cost of living.

Nadia Whittome Portrait Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
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18. What fiscal steps he is taking to support households with increases in the cost of living.

Jeremy Hunt Portrait The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Jeremy Hunt)
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Over the last two years, cost of living support has totalled £96 billion, or an average of £3,400 per household. As a result, living standards, which were predicted to fall 2% last year, rose by nearly 1%, and we are on track to reach pre-pandemic living standards two years early.

Flick Drummond Portrait Mrs Drummond
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I welcome the support that the Government have provided throughout covid and the recent energy crisis for my constituents in Meon Valley—I thank the Government. It has made a huge difference to people’s domestic budgets, but now inflation is falling and the economy is improving, can we look forward to the Government’s continued support with a range of fiscal steps, including cutting taxes?

Jeremy Hunt Portrait Jeremy Hunt
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We can absolutely do that. I thank my hon. Friend for pointing out that the biggest single thing we can do to help people with cost of living pressures is to bring down inflation. That seems to be something that escaped the shadow Chancellor this morning, when she said it was not a big deal to get inflation down to its target. It is a very big deal for families facing a cost of living crisis, and she needs to know that inflation falls by design, not by accident.