Oxford MP’s say the chancellor is leaving people to “sink or swim” as the cost-of-living soars.
On Wednesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a new tax plan in the Spring Statement.
He announced he would cut fuel duty by 5p per litre; lift the National Insurance personal threshold from £9,500 to £12,750 from July; double the existing Household Support Fund from £500 million to £1 billion and cut VAT on the installation of energy saving materials in residential properties from 5 per cent to zero for five years.
However, Oxford MPs say the Chancellor is leaving people with years on “unfair” taxes as the Office for Budget Responsibility warns living standards will fall at the fastest pace on record.
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Anneliese Dodds Labour MP for Oxford East said: “Yesterday’s spring statement has made it clear that the Chancellor has decided to leave households and businesses to fend for themselves in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, as we’re set to see the biggest drop to incomes on record this year.
“Here in Oxford, we're already seeing lots of people who are struggling to cover the basics, including many who are in work.
“The Chancellor could easily have adopted Labour's windfall tax on oil and gas companies and used the money to get energy bills down. Instead, he's leaving people to sink or swim as their bills continue to rocket.”
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Layla Moran Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said: “Families were looking to the Chancellor to offer them hope, but instead he has added to their pain by hitting them with years of unfair taxes.
“Rishi Sunak has failed to introduce a windfall tax on the super profits of oil and gas companies, which could have raised billions to help people with their energy bills.
“He has refused to bring in an emergency cut to VAT, as Liberal Democrats have called for, which would put £600 back into the pockets of the average family.”
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“This was a missed opportunity to tackle head-on the water companies pumping sewage into our rivers. A ‘sewage tax’, as proposed by the Lib Dems, would have taken steps to clamp down on this national scandal. The Chancellor has failed communities fighting for safe bathing waters in local rivers.
“In Oxfordshire, we have once again seen the Government fail to provide much needed funding to improve our SEND services, or to improve the safety of cycling and active transport.
“I am disappointed that this is another in a long list of let-downs by this Conservative Government, and frankly my constituents, and our country, deserve better.”
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