MP praises Budget for easing cost of living

AFTER years of austerity and no progress by the previous Government, Charlotte Nichols MP has today welcomed “a budget that will help working people and give Warrington North a brighter future.”

She says measures to help give Britain a boost include increasing the minimum wage to £12.71, £150 off energy bills, and freezes to rail fares, fuel duty and prescriptions. In addition, a historic move will help lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
She says it stands in contrast to Nigel Farage’s Reform and the Conservatives, who “would take Britain back to austerity with billions of pounds in cuts to public services.”
Ms Nichols said: “Earlier in the week, I visited the Chancellor for a pre-briefing in No 11, on some of the measures I have been lobbying for as part of today’s Budget. While there is still work to be done on some of our local priorities, as turning around 14 years of damage done by austerity was never going to happen overnight against the fiscal backdrop we inherited, I’m pleased to see real progress in a range of areas that will make a huge difference in Warrington North.
“Any Budget includes trade-offs, and the measures to raise revenue are rightly on those with the broadest shoulders – including gambling giants and the wealthiest property owners – and ensuring tax payers money is no longer spent on failed measures like the ECO scheme, pensions for people abroad, and cracking down on fraud, error and waste.
“Taken together, and as the distributional analysis shows, this is a Budget that is rooted in fairness – putting more money in the pockets of ordinary families, supporting growth, and growing our resilience with increased economic headroom and cutting national debt.
“While there is more to do, Labour’s Budget goes further in strengthening our economy by rejecting austerity or more borrowing and instead making fair and necessary choices to:

– Cut the cost of living with around £150 off average energy bills for families in Warrington North – putting money back in people’s pockets
– Remove the two child benefit cap, helping 1,950 children in Warrington North
– Give a pay rise to the 2.7 million lowest earners across the country through raising the minimum wage to £12.71 for over 21s, and an 8.5% rise for those aged 18-20 to £10.85.
– Boost pensions retirees across Warrington North by £550 next April through our commitment to the pensions triple lock
– Cut NHS waiting lists – with 5.2 million extra appointment already delivered and new investment announced for 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres
– Cut government borrowing every year so interest rates, cut five times since the election, can keep falling. That will further ease the cost of living for mortgage
– Permanently lower Business Rates, the lowest rate since I was born in 1991, for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties – with 2110 premises in Warrington set to benefit from the change.
– Clamping down on illegal high street operations – including mini-marts, barbers, vape shops and car washes- with increased funding for enforcement.
– A freeze on rail fares, on fuel duty and on NHS prescriptions.
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She concluded: “This budget will build a stronger and more secure economy. The Government is beating the forecasts with growth this year upgraded and wages going up more in the first year of this Labour Government than it did in the first decade under the Conservatives.”
In response to the budget Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused Rachel Reeves of launching an “assault on aspiration” after the Chancellor unveiled £26 billion in tax rises in her second Budget.
Ms Reeves, who last year raised £40 billion through tax hikes, announced additional tax on pensions, savings and homes.
The Chancellor is expected to raise £8.1 billion by freezing income tax thresholds until April 2031, taking the UK’s overall tax take to an all-time high of 38 per cent of GDP.
Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch launched an extraordinary personal attack on Rachel Reeves just moments after the chancellor delivered her Budget, accusing her of “whining” over misogyny claims.
The Conservative leader diverted from criticising Labour’s raft of tax hikes to tell MPs the chancellor was “wallowing in self-pity”.
Responding to the chancellor’s wide-ranging economic announcement, Ms Badenoch told the Commons, “People are not complaining because she is female, they are complaining because she is utterly incompetent”.
It came after Ms Reeves, who is the UK’s first female chancellor, called out “misogynistic” criticism she faced in the build-up to the Budget, telling The Times she was “sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor to me”.
Ms Badenoch also opposed the Government’s decision to scrap the two-child cap on child benefit and said the so-called ‘mansion tax’ on properties worth more than £2 million would hit home owners and raise little in extra revenue.
Ms Badenoch said: “This is Labour’s Britain. Labour should be renamed the welfare party. People who work hard and save hard to buy their own homes get taxed more while those who don’t work, and in some cases, refuse to work, get their accommodation paid for by the taxpayer.”