The chancellor’s callousness is costing lives

Chaitanya Kumar wrote about the energy bills crisis for the New Statesman:

“Sunak’s support package last month, relatively unchanged in his statement, was widely noted as incommensurate with the scale of the crisis. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) found that the poorest households will be over £420 worse off per year from April, despite the council tax and energy bill rebate. Last week’s announcements – raising the National Insurance contribution (NIC) threshold, reducing income tax by 2024 and cutting fuel duty – do little to mitigate this. In fact, cutting fuel duty by 5p and changes to NIC will put just £90 a year back in the pockets of the poorest tenth of households, compared to £580 for the richest tenth. This was not a budget designed to keep struggling families afloat – it was an opportunity for Sunak to demonstrate his commitment to low taxes to the rest of the Conservative Party.”

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