The budget has been delivered to parliament, and I spoke about the support being offered to people in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton as the detail was published yesterday.
The cost of living crisis is still very real for many people. Even though progress has been made with five Bank of England interest rate cuts since Labour came to power, and more possible in the months ahead, some respite has been achieved, but the pace of energy, food and transport costs alone, and rent for those in the private rented sector have all seen increases when wages largely have not risen at the same rate.
So the budget was about action. The removal of the two-child benefit cap is important, lifting over 6,000 children in our constituency immediately out of poverty, of which an around 60% are in working families. Across Oldham over 11,000 children are affected and it’s the single most effective lever the government has to tackle child poverty, and something I called for in the run up to the budget. Taken with investment in breakfast clubs, and raising the National Minimum and Living Wage will give real practical support to help local people.
Action to ease the cost of living includes around £150 off average energy bills, an extension to the Warm Homes Scheme again worth £150, and the decision to freeze rail fares for the first time in thirty years is good news for travellers using Mills Hill, Moston and Manchester’s stations. So too is keeping the £3 cap on bus fares given so many use our buses everyday to get to work, study, shop or to go to an appointment. On top of this prescription charges will be frozen and fuel duty frozen too, with measures to ensure savings are genuinely passed on at the pump.
Businesses are being supported with reductions in Business Rates for small and medium retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, funded by an increase in larger warehousing and other premises worth over £500,000. This will mean real support for our high streets, pubs, restaurants and shops who will all pay less with warehouses like Amazon paying more to cover the cost.
And there will be a boost to apprenticeships with free placements for businesses who take on people under 25 years old.
There was mention from the Chancellor of moves to grow the co-operative economy and a new Call for Evidence has been launched, all making progress to double the size of the co-operative economy.
There are compromises and that is difficult, but the independent assessment shows that lower- and middle-income households all overall benefit when considering all tax changes, welfare, and public services.
I’ve called for more action on apprenticeships to ensure we move to fix what is currently a system letting down young people, employers and skills providers. I’ve also asked the government to conduct a review of procurement so that vehicles bought by police forces, through the mobility scheme, or any part of government buy British first.
I’ve also asked for work to support Building Societies and Credit Unions, and for HMRC to finally reassess mileage rates, which have stood at 45p for 15 years when the cost of running a vehicle has rocketed since then, for instance the Department for Health and Social Care has increased its own rates to 56p a mile following a review as part of Agenda for Change. That is in line with RAC and Unison estimates of today’s running costs and shows that for low income workers in jobs like home care, they are paying HMRC just to go to work, that isn’t okay at all.
The budget will be debated over days until Tuesday next week.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 