Oral Answers to Questions

Will Forster Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

3. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the autumn Budget 2026 on household living costs.

[Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)]

10. What steps he has taken to help reduce the cost of living.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Healey]

Our priority is to give people who are facing a winter of worry with rising energy bills just a bit of relief. That is why the priority is the £100 paid directly into people’s bank accounts, which will go to 20 million households. That is four in five households in England, and it will reach nine out of 10 of the poorest third of families. It is timely, it is targeted and it is fair. It is a choice that this Government have made in the Labour Budget that I delivered last week.

[Mr Forster]

Yesterday, Trussell and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation wrote to the Prime Minister criticising the Government for freezing local housing allowance, saying that it will not help people with the cost of living and will critically undermine plans to end rough sleeping. Does the Chancellor agree with those national charities and Citizens Advice in my Woking constituency that rent support must be tied to actual rent levels?

[John Healey]

Rent allowance and how we best support the increase in the building of council and social housing were also part of my Budget announcements. They were not just about having a bit of breathing space and relief from the pressures that people immediately face, but action to start the long-term fix to our housing, including help for first-time buyers who do not have the backing of mum and dad and help to get council and social housing built in this country.