Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[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]

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.

[Mr Virendra Sharma]

The tax rises that the Chancellor has introduced are making the cost of living worse for everyone. How can he defend raising taxes on working people and urging against pay rises for most people, while his colleagues recommend scrapping the cap on pay rises for FTSE 100 bosses who earn millions?

[Rishi Sunak]

Again, 70% of workers in this country will have a net tax cut. That is what the Government are delivering. In just a couple of weeks’ time, the first £12,500 that anyone in work earns will be free of any tax or national insurance. That will deliver a £6 billion tax cut for 30 million people. As I said, for 70% of all workers, excluding the most wealthy, it represents a net tax cut, because we are on the side of hard-working people.