Rishi Sunak today suggested there will be no extra support for people facing soaring energy bills until the Autumn, as he faced his first Commons grilling since delivering his widely criticised spring statement to MPs last week.
He told MPs at the Treasury select committee : “It clearly is very difficult today to speculate on energy prices in the autumn. Let’s wait until we get there”.
It has been reported there are currently major disagreements between Mr Sunak and Boris Johnson about how to tackle rising energy bills, with the prime minister saying the government needs to “do more” to help people with increasing bills.
Mr Sunak is being questioned on whether his mini-budget did enough to help Britons with the cost of living crisis.
Mr Sunak slashed fuel duty by 5p and raised the threshold at which people pay national insurance by £3,000.
But MPs on all sides of the Commons – as well as several think tanks – said the moves would not be enough to help Britain’s poorest families.
Sunak hints at no extra support on soaring energy bills until at least autumn
Rishi Sunak today suggested there will be no extra support for people facing soaring energy bills until the Autumn, as he faced his first Commons grilling since delivering his widely criticised spring statement to MPs last week.
He told MPs at the Treasury select committee : “It clearly is very difficult today to speculate on energy prices in the autumn. Let’s wait until we get there”.
It has been reported there are currently major disagreements between Mr Sunak and prime minister Boris Johnson about how to tackle rising energy bills.
Labour MP says Sunak ‘not a tax cutting chancellor’
Labour MP Angela Eagle said that Mr Sunak “styles himself as a tax cutting chancellor” but that he isn’t one.
Mr Sunak said he has never said that, but has always said that he is a chancellor “who has had to deal with a pandemic”. He said the choice he had after Covid was to cut public spending or to deliver on plans to “improve people’s quality of life”.
Labour MP says tax burden ‘still going up’
Labour MP Angela Eagle has told Mr Sunak the tax burden is “still going up”, which the chancellor accepts.
He says the reason is that the government is continuing to invest in public services and is recovering from the shock of the Covid pandemic.
Labour MP says Sunak has made ‘political choice to plunge 1.3 million into poverty’
Labour MP Angela Eagle says the chancellor has made a “political choice to plunge 1.3 million people into absolute poverty”.
Mr Sunak disagrees and says that he has reduced the impact on prices which are “global in nature” and adds that his package is “progressive” in the way it has been designed.
He adds that his package will not add to inflation and has put in “specific support” to help people. He says he is “very mindful” of people on low incomes and “difficult circumstances”.
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Watch: Sunak grilled at Treasury select committee
Good to give people a ‘sense of direction’, Sunak says when asked about promise to cut income tax by 2024
Stride now asks Sunak why he chose to outline an income tax cut of 1p by 2024, given that the financial outlook is uncertain and could quickly change.
“Because in the autumn I said very clearly that the direction of travel on tax would be for reductions going forward”, the chancellor responds.
He says he set this out in the autumn budget and “fleshed it out” in his spring statement.
“It’s good to give people a sense of direction and a plan for where we’re trying to head,” he adds.
Right for government to maintain ‘prudent buffer against fiscal rules’
Mel Stride, the committee chair, kicks off the session by asking Sunak why he didn’t make full use of the fiscal “headroom” outlined in the OBR’s spring statement forecast.
He asks the chancellor if he is concerned about the “uncertainty” families face amid rising fuel, food and energy bills.
Responding, the chancellor said it is right for the government to maintain a “prudent buffer against our fiscal rules, which is what we have done”.
Sunak to appear before MPs at Treasury select committee
Rishi Sunak faces his first Commons grilling since delivering his widely criticised spring statement to MPs last week.
The chancellor is up at the Treasury select committee where he is being questioned on whether his mini-budget did enough to help Britons with the cost of living crisis.
We’ll bring you updates from the session once it gets underway at 2.40pm.
Laura Kuenssberg named new host of BBC’s Sunday morning politics show
Laura Kuenssberg has been announced as the new permanent presenter of the BBC’s Sunday morning politics show.
In December, she announced she was stepping down as the broadcaster’s political editor after seven years.
Kuenssberg will start her role when the show relaunches this September with a new set, title, format and title music.
She said: “I couldn’t be more delighted. For decades Sunday morning has been the moment to explore the events that shape us and to challenge and listen to our politicians.
“It’s an honour to take the chair for that conversation in the 2020s.”
