Oxford MP Layla Moran has urged the Chancellor to urgently reverse the decisions that are hitting the poorest households hard this winter.

The Oxford West and Abingdon MP has written to Rishi Sunak setting out her priorities for Oxfordshire ahead of today’s Budget and Spending Review.

She is demanding more support for struggling families, including the reinstatement of the Universal Credit uplift and the pensions triple lock.

She also wants a windfall tax on gas companies to cut energy bills.

She wrote: “The end of the Universal Credit uplift, the suspension of the pensions triple lock, inflation and rising energy bills threaten to make the winter and next year incredibly tough for far too many.”

She called on the Government to double the warm home discount and make it available to almost 200 pensioners in her constituency who are not yet receiving it.

The Treasury has confirmed the National Living Wage will rise from £8.91 an hour to £9.50.

But she said despite the increase, a rise in taxes means it will do little to offset the escalating squeeze on households.

She said: “Research published yesterday by the Liberal Democrats shows that a full-time worker being paid the higher National Living Wage will only take home just over half of their pay rise.

“If National Insurance is not unfairly hiked, they would be able to keep over two-thirds of the increase.”

“The rise in National Insurance will hit hard-pressed families and small businesses in Oxfordshire the hardest. How is that fair? It is not too late for the Government to fix this.”

And following warnings from Oxfordshire County Council that they will have to raise council tax to fund social care, Ms Moran called for urgent Government investment in adult and children’s services as well as SEND children’s services to avoid funding shortfalls.

She wrote: “It is completely unacceptable that the burden for fixing the social care crisis should fall squarely on the shoulders of taxpayers through a rise in National Insurance and a potential council tax increase.”

Ms Moran also called for real investment in green transport to tackle climate change.

She wrote: “We are in a climate emergency. And yet this government has chosen to push forward with diesel trains on the East West Rail project, failed to invest in green infrastructure such as a community (cycling and walking) path on the B4044 in my constituency, and announced a woefully inadequate Heat and Buildings Strategy that will help just 90,000 homes nationwide.”

She added: “As I have already made clear to the East West Rail (EWR) Company and to the Department for Transport, it is vital that the train line is electrified from day one, with all the infrastructure in place.

“Introducing new diesel trains to our transport system flies in the face of the Government’s warm words on climate change, and also threatens to increase pollution for residents in North Oxford from idling units.”

She also called for more flood defences in Abingdon.

And she said further education should be properly funded to deliver skills for the future while lifelong learning accounts should be introduced for all adults in England.

A Covid Recovery Visa for the local hospitality sector would fix staffing shortages, and the scrapping of business rates will save small businesses and our high streets, she wrote.

The letter ended: “Anything less than the action required will mean the people of Oxfordshire have once again been let down by the Conservatives and by this Government.”

After sending it, she said: “Oxfordshire deserves a fair deal from this Budget that helps the households struggling to make ends meet, invests in green transport to tackle the climate emergency, supports our NHS and social care, gives people skills for the future and backs our small businesses.”