Carlisle politicians are divided on Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement

Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave his Spring Statement in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The announcement gives the Government’s finance boss the opportunity to pivot and react to the UK’s ever changing financial picture.

Mr Sunak was under pressure to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, from all sides of the House, heading into the week.

And he acted, slashing fuel duty by 5p per litre, and hiking the income threshold above which people have to pay National Insurance.

An additional £500million has been allocated to local authorities for the Household Support Fund.

But Carlisle politicians are divided on the statement. Some see it as a failure to respond to the struggles of real people in the community, others have welcomed Mr Sunak’s statement.

Leader of Carlisle Constituency Labour Group, Lisa Brown said: "The spring statement as expected, is a failure to support families, disabled people and pensioners. 

"What was needed was a windfall tax on oil companies to pay for a cut to energy bills, but what we saw again was the Conservatives looking after the richest and expecting hard working families to foot the bill."

The Greens and the Labour Party were in consensus on the taxing of oil giants.

Chairman of Carlisle Green Party Gavin Hawkton said: "The chancellor should have introduced a windfall tax on obscene profits made by fossil fuel companies.

"It is a political choice that the poorest in our society will continue to be squeezed the most by the cost of living crisis."

Councillor Brown said: "Many pensioners and children will be pushed into poverty as the chancellor failed to uprate in-work benefits and pensions by inflation.

"In a couple of weeks we will see a national insurance rise at the same time as a 54 per cent energy price rise; a 5p cut in fuel duty is only worth £2 a month to the lowest 10 per cent of earners. 

"The announced rise in the National Insurance threshold is better news for middle-income households, but would still see more than half of the benefit going to the richest half of the population."

The Greens said that cutting fuel duty is ineffective. Mr Hawkton said: “Cutting fuel duty doesn’t help those on lower incomes who don’t have cars.

"Instead we could have had a retrofit revolution to deliver warm homes for all, cut fuel bills and slash carbon emissions."

Penrith and the Borders MP, Neil Hudson, welcomed the ambition behind the chancellor’s statements but said it does not address rising costs for rural communities: "I welcome the measures announced today most notably the increase in National Insurance threshold and the cut in fuel duty," he said.

"However, as I laid out last week in the House, the cost-of-living crisis is presenting a combination of uniquely harmful challenges for rural communities.

"The Chancellor needs to take further action immediately to tackle the threat of the cost of living facing rural communities.

"I am still calling for the VAT reduction for tourism and hospitality sectors that is coming to an end to be extended moving forward and I still think we need further action on energy and fuel costs and also action on the fertiliser crisis facing the agricultural sector.

"The emergency support provided to businesses by this Chancellor during the pandemic was a vital lifeline to their survival, but if we want to shore up businesses moving forward, the Chancellor needs to bring in more targeted support measures for the tourism, hospitality and farming sectors that are part of the lifeblood of the Cumbrian economy."