Cost of Living Crisis- Lib Dems call for emergency support

Whilst the Government have remained near-silent in terms of any real help for those struggling with the cost of living emergency, inflation is now at 9%. Energy bills, food costs and costs of numerous basic essentials have soared leaving more and more people turning to food banks and more children being plunged into poverty.  Here in South Cambridgeshire the average energy bill increased by around £700 per household in April, with a further rise expected in October, and we hear every day from people who simply do not know how they are going to pay their bills.

It now seems that the Chancellor might announce some support on Thursday to deflect attention from the Sue Gray report. It is truly chilling that the Tories have delayed helping our most vulnerable members of our society whilst waiting for the press cycle to be right. To make matters worse, in a series of bizarre interviews Tory MPs and Ministers have shown how out of touch they are with their constituents with their own “helpful” suggestions for ways people should be coping with the cost of living crisis including buying value brands, learning to cook better and “earning more”!

The Liberal Democrats have been calling for months for a package of measures to help people make ends meet. A windfall tax on the record profits of multinational oil firms would allow us to slash energy bills for millions of people through doubling and extending the warm homes discount. Even if applied to Shell and BP alone this would have raised a staggering £10bn for the first quarter of this year. There is widespread public support for this measure as well as support from business leaders. However, despite 248 MPs voting in favour of it when it was put to Parliament last week, Conservative MPs for Cambridgeshire (including South Cams MP, Anthony Browne) did not support the proposal.  The Lib Dems are also calling for VAT to be cut from 20% to 17.5%, helping with day to day expenses and saving the average family £600 a year. This would put £21,240,000 back into the pockets of 35,400 households in the South Cambridgeshire constituency and support our local shops, cafes and restaurants. 

We can only hope, despite our dismay at how cynical his timing is, the Chancellor will make some announcement tomorrow to bring relief to the most vulnerable, and to struggling families. Perhaps there will even be a U Turn on the windfall tax. Whether it will be enough,  or too little too late, remains to be seen.