When I returned to the backbenches I committed to championing issues impacting decent working people but which too often went ignored.
I’m delighted to have played a part in leading calls for the HMRC mileage rates to be finally updated, putting money back into the pockets of working people. A win!
After a sustained campaign alongside Unison & the RAC Foundation supported by the Mirror newspaper, the government has now acted to increase HMRC mileage rates from 45p to 55p per mile with the change BACKDATED to April this year ahead of the completion of the full review before the next Budget.
For too long, frontline workers, carers and self-employed people who rely on their car for work have been left out of pocket while fuel, insurance and running costs kept rising.
This is a welcome and overdue step forward, and proof that campaigning works and that only Labour are on the side of working people.
The announcement was part of a wider package of real support including a road tax free year for HGVs worth over £900, free bus travel for under 16s over summer and a wider range of support including VAT cuts on UK attractions and restaurants, as well as targeted intervention for energy intensive industries like ceramics which Britain excels in.
The best bit? It’s funded by closing the loophole where oil and gas companies use losses abroad to cut their tax bill here.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 