The chancellor’s £15bn spending is a welcome step in the right direction, but offers no plan for growth and fails to address the causes of child poverty
Economists and poverty campaigners have for months been warning that low-income families and disabled people would be left in increasingly dire financial straits as a result of inflation hitting its highest level in 40 years. But for months, a government mired in scandal has chosen to ignore their plight, implementing cuts to universal credit and drawing up packages of financial support that mostly go to better-off households. Labour’s calls for a windfall tax on energy companies to fund more financial relief went unheeded.
At last, the chancellor has given in and corrected course. Last week, Rishi Sunak announced an additional £15bn of one-off financial support for households, funded in part by a £5bn windfall tax on energy companies. It has come much too late, causing unnecessary hardship and stress for low-income families, but it is a more generous package than anything that has preceded it and is better, albeit imperfectly, targeted at people who are most in need of support.
