MP for Chesterfield and Staveley has joined calls from Keir Starmer for the government to announce an emergency budget as prices and bills continue to rise.

It comes as the OBR predicts a further 40% rise in the energy price cap in October, potentially adding hundreds more pounds to household energy bills. This, and the rise in National Insurance from this month could lead many to suffer even more.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for the emergency budget to prioritise 5 measures that could be enacted now to make a material difference to the millions of pensioners and working people feeling the crunch from the crisis.

Labour’s Five Calls:

  1. Put a windfall tax on oil and gas producers to cut home energy bills: Bring in a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits, to cut household bills by up to £600, including through a VAT cut on home energy bills and an increase and expansion of the Warm Homes Discount.

 

  1. Provide support for struggling businesses: Labour would cut taxes for businesses by giving SMEs a discount on their business rates bill worth up to £5,700 this year, funded by a tax on the online giants. We’d also bring in a £600 million contingency fund, raised by the windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits, for those industries and businesses struggling the most with rising bills like steel and other energy-intensive firms.

 

  1. Spike the hike: Scrap the National Insurance hike which this government has introduced in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

 

  1. Insulate homes: Commit to a rapid ramp up of home upgrades with a clear target to meet by the end of the year, to make them more energy efficient and cheaper to heat, saving households £400 on average every year.

 

  1. Stop the waste: Allow the National Crime Agency to investigate the £11.8 billion of taxpayer funds lost to fraud and error, so no more taxpayer money is flushed down the drain.

Toby Perkins MP said:

“I have been inundated with constituents from across Chesterfield and Staveley who are facing massive increases in energy tariffs, tax and food costs.”

“The Conservative government’s response to the scale of the crisis is utterly inadequate, and so I back this five point plan that would put the needs of my constituents ahead of protecting the obscene profits of gas and oil producers. The government really should take quick action to help people, like scrapping the hike in National Insurance and supporting our local businesses who have already suffered so much during the pandemic.”

“It is why I agree with Keir that an emergency budget is the best way people can receive the support they need. I hope the government heed this call urgently. ”

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The Prime Minister and Chancellor have spent the last few weeks once again entirely preoccupied with saving their own skins, failing to do anything to address the spiralling cost of living.

“People are working hard and getting less. This week, most people will see their pay squeezed further by a pickpocketing Chancellor who is content for his family to pay less, but to tax you more.

“Labour have put forward sensible, costed, practical measures that would give immediate help to working people up and down the country.

“The government should hold an emergency budget to enact them, and address the yawning chasm left by the spring statement. People need solutions, not cynicism, and now is the time to act.

“Britain deserves better.”

The Labour Party
The Labour Party's plan for the cost of living crisis
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