After the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his budget, Ruth Cadbury MP said.
‘‘Since the last budget a year ago, the Chancellor has missed the opportunity to show the Government’s commitment to our NHS, our local economy in Hounslow and our efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
It’s simply wrong that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak is freezing the pay of public sector key-workers such as police offices and teachers, while the Government wasted billions of pounds on faulty PPE and a failed test and trace system.
There was nothing to address our housing crisis at a time when we need tens of thousands of social rent homes in London alone.
The Chancellor also confirmed that the 17,000 people in my constituency on Universal Credit will see a £20 a week cut in 6 months’ time. This will mean a cut to a vital lifeline they receive, while those on older ‘legacy benefits’ have still not received any additional support. On top of that too many self-employed people remain excluded from any support.
With the climate crisis continuing to be felt and the UK hosting COP26, the Chancellor had no solutions as to how the Government is going to create the well-paid and secure green jobs we need to see. The recent announcement of a new coal mine being opened shows that the Government is still trapped in the past.
Lastly, there was little in this budget to support local areas particularly impacted by the pandemic. The unemployment rate has tripled around Heathrow, due to our area’s over-dependence on the aviation sector and its wider supply chain. However, the Chancellor once again had nothing new to offer for aviation communities.
After 11 years of successive Conservative Governments failing to invest in our economy, failing to support our NHS and social care sector and failing to invest in our efforts to fight climate change it’s clear that this is yet another budget that fails to deliver.’’