MP Drew Hendry: Receiving £400 as a grant instead of a £200 loan will help many households with energy bills but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask why the Chancellor is not doing more as 'we know he has at least another £15 billion at his disposal'
There is no doubt that receiving £400 as a grant instead of a £200 loan will help many households grappling with astronomical energy bills and rising food costs.
Still, I wouldn’t be doing my job for you if I didn’t ask why the Chancellor continues to choose to not go further to support families.
We know he has at least another £15 billion at his disposal.
The package of measures announced doesn’t touch the sides of the shortfall in household budgets.
As readers will know too well, energy costs are only part of the cost-of-living story being played out in almost every street.
Even before the first price cap rose, living costs went through the roof because of the Brexit mess.
Rising energy and fuel costs are not singular to the UK, nor are the impacts of the war in Ukraine on prices.
Still, how the UK government reacts to these global impacts is within its control.
It could have responded in a way that protects pensioners, hard-pushed families and those living with disabilities from spiralling deeper into poverty.
Prices are up nine per cent and continue to rise.
Inflation is at the highest rate in 40 years.
Yet, wages stagnate, national insurance is on the rise, and those with the least were issued cuts to their Universal Credit.
These are all decisions the Chancellor stands by.
Even the most generous commentators were hard-pushed to describe this latest offering from the Chancellor to tackle the crisis as anything other than a half-baked spin machine plan.
All designed to distract folk from the sleaze and lies.
Using the financial crisis people are living through as a smokescreen should be unthinkable.
Of course, we have come to expect it from this Prime Minister.
After all, they have done the same with the war in Ukraine.
The idea that Boris Johnson needs to stay in power because he is the best person to lead the UK in international diplomacy would be a hilarious joke if this situation weren’t so serious.
The UK has a Prime Minister who broke the very laws his government put in place, and his response is to change the Ministerial Code.
He has lied to parliament and the people he is there to serve.
Yet we are all told to move on.
It begs the question, if this isn’t enough for Tory MPs to remove him from power, what will be?
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