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       220324 - Rishi Sunak

       Around 1.3 million people will be pushed into “absolute poverty” next year, a think tank has said, amid criticism that Rishi Sunak’s mini budget did little to help lower-income families.

       In yesterday’s Spring Statement, Mr Sunak announced a 5p cut in fuel duty and an increase in the threshold at which people pay national insurance contributions.

       However analysis from the Resolution Foundation, an economic think thank, said that Mr Sunak’s measures do not meet the scale of the cost-of-living squeeze. They said that 1.3 million Britons would fall below the poverty line next year, including 500,000 children - the first time Britain has seen such a rise outside of a recession.

       Mr Sunak’s mini budget was roundly criticised in the morning papers, with many leading on the Office of Budget Responsibility’s warning that families face the biggest fall in living standards on record.

       Richard Hughes, chairman of the OBR, said that people can expect a 2 per cent fall in their living standards in the coming 12 months. Mr Hughes also said that energy bills are “doubling” over the course of the year, rising by around 50 per cent in April and another 40 per cent in October.

       Recommended Spring statement: What does Rishi Sunak’s mini-budget mean for your finances? ‘The up yours mini budget’: Newspapers savage Rishi Sunak’s spring statement Sunak warns of ‘challenging and uncertain times’ ahead

       Show latest update 1648112959 Rishi Sunak- ‘We all have different breads in my house'

       Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed that his family all eat different types of bread while on a media round where he was defending the measures announced in his Spring Statement.

       Mr Sunak was asked by BBC Breakfast which food he noticed was rising in price in the supermarket amid inflation fears.

       He reportedly replied: “It’s probably, I think bread, probably is the thing. The one we buy I’m sure is now about ￡1.20 and it was about ￡1, from memory.”

       When he was asked what kind of bread he eats, Mr Sunak replied: “It’s a Hovis king of seeded thing.

       “We have a whole range of different - we all have different breads in my house, a degree of healthiness between my wife, myself and my kids.”

       Mr Sunak lives with his wife and two daughters.

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 09:09

       1648111958 Matt Hancock failed to disclose private messages with Tory MP Owen Paterson - watchdog says

       Former health secretary Matt Hancock failed to tell officials about private messages that he sent to former Tory MP Owen Paterson, the National Audit Office has revealed.

       In a report, the watchdog said that Mr Hancock’s department did not properly record why it had awarded contracts worth nearly ￡500million to the healthcare firm, Randox - the firm Mr Paterson was paid to lobby for.

       The NAO also revealed that the Department of Health and Social Care failed to declare four meetings its ministers held with Randox. However, the report added that the NAO had “not seen any evidence that the government’s contracts with Randox were awarded improperly”.

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:52

       1648111646 Putin has already crossed ‘red line’ with ‘barbaric slaughter’ in Ukraine, Boris Johnson says

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       Putin has already crossed ‘red line’ with ‘barbaric slaughter’ in Ukraine, Boris Johnson says

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:47

       1648110929 ‘Tax-raising chancellor’ causing a ‘disaster for working people’, Labour says

       Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has called Rishi Sunak a “tax-raising chancellor” and warned that the tax burden on working people is a “disaster”.

       Mr Sunak tried to use his Spring Statement yesterday to reposition himself as a tax-cutting minister, announcing a cut to income tax in 2024.

       However Ms Reeves told BBC Breakfast this morning that it was clear that Rishi Sunak was a “tax-raising chancellor”, adding: “The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the 1940s and if you take in the round all the tax cuts and increases this chancellor has announced in the last couple of years, by the end of the parliament seven out of eight people will be paying more tax, only one in eight will be paying less in tax.”

       She added: “That’s a disaster for working people, for the poorest people in society who are struggling with rising food prices, rising petrol prices and most of all the big increases in tax and electricity bills.”

       (PA)

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:35

       1648110010 ‘We need a tax cut in 2022 not 2024’: President of the CBI

       Lord Karan Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry, has said that the income tax cut announced by Rishi Sunak for 2024 was needed now.

       He told Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that “consumers are really suffering at the moment, they’re being squeezed from all angles..”

       He added: “To announce a tax cut in 2024, that’s in 2024.

       “We need a tax cut in 2022, and instead he’s carried on with the increase in national insurance.”

       Lord Bilimoria warned that the high tax burden was hitting consumer confidence.

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:20

       1648109315 ‘I can’t make every problem go away’ - Rishi Sunak

       Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he “can’t make every problem go away” following criticism that his Spring Statement didn’t go far enough in helping lower-income families.

       Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Sunak said: “I’ve always been honest; these are global challenges that we face.

       “We’re not alone in experiencing them, and I can’t, I wish I could - and it’s the hardest part about this job not being able to do everything that people would like you to do - but I can’t make every problem go away, but where we can make a difference we want to, and that’s what yesterday was about.”

       (via REUTERS)

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:08

       1648109076 Euro 2028 tournament in Russia would be ‘beyond comprehension’, says Boris Johnson

       It would be “beyond comprehension” for football’s ruling authorities to award Russia the right to host the Euro 2028 tournament, Boris Johnson has said.

       The prime minister was speaking after it emerged that Vladimir Putin has launched a last-minute attempt to challenge the bid by the United Kingdom and Ireland, writes Political Editor Andrew Woodcock.

       It had been hoped that the joint UK/Ireland bid would be selected unopposed, but Russia’s Football Union put in an application just hours before the deadline on Wednesday - despite being barred from international football because of the invasion of Ukraine.

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:04

       1648109017 Cost of living crisis: Lack of support will push 1.3 million into absolute poverty, economists warn

       Around 1.3 million Brits will be pushed into absolute poverty by the cost of living squeeze, after the chancellor failed to offer more support to low income households in his Spring Statement, the Resolution Foundation, an economic think tank, has said.

       This is the first time, outside of a recession, in which poverty has risen so sharply, Economics editor Anna Isaac writes.

       Wages are failing to keep pace with inflation, which is set to peak above 8 per cent next month, and average 7.4 per cent this year. The soaring cost of living comes as taxes are also set to rise in April. Some half-a-million children will be among those pushed into poverty by this squeeze on households, the think tank said.

       Read the full story here:

       Lack of support will push 1.3 million into poverty, economists warn The chancellor left the poorest households ‘painfully exposed’ in his Spring Statement, the Resolution Foundation has said

       Holly Bancroft 24 March 2022 08:03