Following George Osborne’s Budget speech on Wednesday, Emma criticised the Chancellor for not doing enough to help the poorest households.
The Budget’s measures included the introduction of an overall cap on welfare spending, as well as reforms to savings and pensions. But there were no measures to help with major costs such as household energy and water, and the Chancellor continued to refuse to acknowledge the cost of living crisis which has seen prices outstrip wages by £1,600 under the Coalition.
The Chancellor also confirmed that the Government’s austerity measures were not over, confirming there would be a further £1 billion of cuts in the next Parliament. Yet at the same time, he refused to rule out further tax cuts for those at the top.
And although the Chancellor confirmed the UK economy is growing, there are worrying signs for the stability of the recovery, as manufacturing output, construction and infrastructure investment all fell.
The situation is also very different in the North East to in London and the South East. The region has seen the slowest fall in unemployment of any region in the country, and now has the lowest average wage anywhere in the UK.
Emma said:
“This Budget shows that the Chancellor has entirely the wrong priorities. At a time when wages are falling compared to prices every month, his budget offers next to nothing for the people suffering under the Coalition’s cost of living crisis.
“The Chancellor claims the economy is recovering, but it is clear that his recovery is for the few, not the many. Bankers’ pay in London is rising at a rate five times faster than the average person’s, and bonuses are on the rise again. Yet in constituencies like South Shields poverty is on the increase. The fact that the Budget did nothing to address this growing inequality shows that as far as the Chancellor is concerned, everything is going according to plan.”