In response to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, Rushanara Ali said:

“Today’s announcement by the Chancellor has done little to support families struggling with the cost of living crisis. The OBR has confirmed today the biggest hit to households on record, and the Chancellor has simply left households to fend for themselves.

Even after the changes today, Britain is facing the highest tax burden in 70 years with the Chancellor refusing to abandon his reckless plan to raise National Insurance. Half of Britons have said they cannot afford an additional £50 a month to their cost of living. Halting the National Insurance rise, alongside cutting VAT on home energy bills, would have directly eased cost of living concerns. Labour would have also introduced a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producers to cut household energy bills by up to £600.

And let us not forget, this is a Chancellor who has lost a staggering £11.8 billion to fraud and error. Taxpayers deserve to know why this money was lost, and what efforts are being made to recover the money and ensure such reckless waste does not happen again. Instead, they are having to foot the bill for the Chancellor’s incompetence.”