Challenging the Chancellor over his ‘catastrophic’ Budget for living standards

Bobby Dean MP writes about challenging the Chancellor over stealth tax rises and the impact of the Budget on living standards.

The Resolution Foundation described Labour's latest Budget as "catastrophic" for living standards.

Stealth taxes will drag hundreds of thousands of people into paying higher rates of income tax.

It's equivalent to a 2% rise in income tax, yet the Chancellor didn't mention these hidden taxes once in his budget speech.

I challenged the Chancellor at the Treasury Committee on why he thinks he doesn't need to justify his stealth tax rises.

I also pushed the Chancellor on:

• His hidden plan to raise fuel duty by 14% next summer - he did not deny it.
   
• Whether he would fix the fact that 100,000s of the poorest households will miss out on the £100 energy support scheme - he refused to acknowledge that them missing out was a problem.
   
• Whether his budget means further cuts to courtrooms, classrooms and councils - he implied that there will be.

We desperately need a plan to grow our economy and improve living standards. This Budget falls well short of that.

- Bobby Dean MP