JEREMY HUNT’S “micro Budget” yesterday may have steadied the money markets.
But the changes the new Chancellor made to sacked Kwasi Kwarteng’s giveaway mini Budget of just three weeks ago will have a BIG effect on Sun readers.
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We’ve been back to ask our cost-of-living panel for their verdict on the Government’s latest U-turns.
Many of them welcomed the moves – but asked whether PM Liz Truss should still be in her job.
The NHS worker
MEGAN DANCER is on maternity leave looking after seven-month-old son Louie.
She earns £22,000 and her partner, machine operator Dan, 32, gets £24,000.
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After Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini Budget last month they were set to be £617 better off, but they have lost £250 because next year’s planned 1p cut in income tax has been dropped indefinitely.
Megan, 28, says: “Our bills are going up so now we’re going to have to find the extra from somewhere else.”
With gas and electric bills of £1,620 a year, they had hoped the energy guarantee would last for two years.
Megan says: “To cut short the energy guarantee so soon is unfair. It will get us through the winter but what happens if it’s not that warm in April?”
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The couple have a £188,000 fixed-rate mortgage on their home in Bournemouth and Megan says: “I just hope the new Chancellor’s U-turns will help to keep interest rates down.
“The worst thing is the waiting and the worry.”
The security worker
THE three weeks since last month’s mini Budget have been a “nightmare’ for Muhammad Afzal’s family.
The 41-year-old, who earns £45,000 a year in corporate security, lives with wife Aneela and daughter Izzah, 11, in Ilford, East London.
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He says: “I’ve never seen anything like this. A run on the pound, mortgage and interest rates going up, and now they can’t afford to give us most of the help we were promised.”
The couple have a £300,000 mortgage due for renewal next year.
Muhammad says: “The only positive thing that could come out of this is that interest rates will stabilise. Then there hopefully will be more mortgage deals.
“Our mortgage is likely to be £500 per month more than it is now. That will be tight, it is a big worry.
“We can soak up £200 extra per month, but no more. It’s not looking good.
“What do the Tories stand for? You used to be able to trust them with the economy but that has gone. Liz Truss has no authority, she has to go.”
The college support worker
MICHAEL THORPE is on a zero-hours contract earning £13,000 a year.
He also gets around £3,000 in Universal Credit.
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The 62-year-old divorcee used to pay £920 a year on electricity for his one-bed housing-association flat in Southend, Essex, but he is already getting help with his bills.
He says: “I’ve started getting £66 per month from the electric company, which really helps.
“I shouldn’t pay much more than I did last year. That really does help a lot, otherwise I’d be paying £100 per month easily.”
Michael will only be £7 a year better off from the 1.25 per cent cut in National Insurance but he is glad the new Chancellor has reversed last month’s mini Budget.
He says: “Liz got it totally wrong. It’s good that Jeremy Hunt made her change her mind.
“I’m feeling more confident than I was before the U-turns. But while she is in charge we don’t know what the future holds.
“I think she felt everything was going to go her way but she’s had a big shock.”
The hairstylist
REBECCA SUTER said the events of the last three weeks were “farcical”, adding: “It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
“Liz Truss is not right for the job. I’ve spoken to a lot of people and no one has any faith in her.
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“They all seems to be saying the same thing – ‘Rishi to the rescue’.
“We didn’t vote for her, so why should we have a Prime Minister we didn’t vote for? We voted for Boris and they kicked him out.”
Rebecca, 45, of Loughborough, Leics, earns £21,320 a year working from home and her energy bills are £1,980 a year.
She will be £3 a week better off after the Chancellor opted to keep next month’s 1.25 per cent National Insurance cut but said: “I’m not sure about Jeremy Hunt either. It’s the uncertainty of it all.
“Liz doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing. At the minute it seems like Hunt’s the one in charge.
“Everything is a big concern. Now they are changing things after saying they wouldn’t. How can we trust them?”
The supply teacher
JAMES ARTHUR and wife Amelie will be £631 better off when the 1.25 per cent National Insurance increase is axed next month – but will lose out by £650 a year with the indefinite axing of next April’s 1p basic-rate tax cut.
James, 33, says: “Ultimately, the U-turns are the best thing for the country – even though we’re losing out financially, it’s a positive move.
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“But it would have been great to have this information in the first place.
“It’s really confusing and keeping up with everything is stressful in itself. It’s a bitter disappointment to a lot of families and the real shame is that it could have been avoided.
“The way it has been delivered has been a mess.”
James and Amelia, 34, who live in Ashtead, Surrey with their one-year-old son Leon, both earn £45,000 a year.
James adds: “A lot of trust has been eroded. Although I feel a little more confident with Jeremy Hunt, I wouldn’t put it past them to change things again.”
The supermarket worker
RETIRED lorry driver Allan Lunn now has a part-time supermarket job to make ends meet.
At 71 he gets £9,360 state pension, topped up with almost £3,000 a year from a private pension.
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He earns £170 a week at Heron supermarket and pays £31 tax weekly.
With wife Sam, 62, earning £7,904 as a part-time care assistant, the couple will lose the £85 a year they were going to gain from next year’s income tax cut.
Allan, from Horncastle, Lincs, said: “Liz Truss has shown she hasn’t got her finger on the pulse. I don’t think she’s cut out for the job.
“I’m very disappointed that the 1p tax cut won’t happen in the foreseeable future. Times will be hard next year for people working full-time.
“You need to give people something to look forward to.”
He added: “Liz Truss is on thin ice. I liked her as Trade Secretary when she was doing deals around the world.
“But I have my doubts now. Problem is, I don’t know who is good enough to take her place.”
The disabled mum
SINGLE Lyndsey Tate thinks the Chancellor’s U-turn yesterday has helped by stabilising interest and mortgage rates.
The 40-year-old mum to Georgia, ten, lives in Kellington, North Yorks, and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety and PTSD and is on disability benefits.
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Lyndsey said: “It’s been a shambles. How can people who are meant to be running the country make such an appalling mess of it?
“Even if they get rid of Liz, there’s no confidence. The Government have already hammered the most vulnerable in society.
“They’d already cut us to the bone before any of this happened, and now they’re going to hit us again.
“At the next Budget I doubt they’ll increase benefits in line with inflation, which is a real-terms cut, on top of another cut.
“We’re terrified right now. What do we do? We’re already surviving by buying the most basic foods and shopping for the budget brands. Where else can we cut back?”
The bank worker
FIRST-time home buyer Lauren Hutchinson is relieved her £11,250 stamp duty saving survived the chop in the micro-budget, but fears another U-turn might wipe it out.
Bank worker Lauren, 28, and accountant boyfriend Matty Hooper, 29, are buying a £625,000 three-bed semi near Blandford Forum, Dorset.
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They will pay £10,000 stamp duty instead of the £21,250 it would have cost if the duty cut had been scrapped.
Lauren said: “It’s a big relief that the duty cut has stayed, but with so many U-turns there’s no guarantee there won’t be another on stamp duty.
“Missing the saving would mean committing more money than we budgeted for. We really don’t want to pull out after saving to buy a home since 2017.”
The couple were under pressure to purchase in time for a 2.2 per cent mortgage deal and Lauren said: “We couldn’t afford a mortgage at six per cent, so we’d have had to abandon plans to buy and rent for a few years to save up more.”
