Sunak planning ‘targeted moves’ to ease the cost of living crisis as inflation soars to 9%
RISHI Sunak is preparing to unleash new measures to help hard-pressed households through the cost of living crisis.
The Chancellor said he “will go further” in easing pressures as he warned families to brace for more price rises in the coming months.
With inflation expected to soar above nine per cent today, Mr Sunak is facing calls to step in immediately.
But the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, has indicated new help won’t be imminent – and a programme of measures will be introduced in a “targeted way”.
Mr Sunak told MPs that global forces, such as the pandemic recovery, the war in Ukraine and spiralling inflation, were making “life difficult for families at the moment”.
He added: “There is no measure any Government can take, no law we can pass that can make these global forces disappear overnight.”
He said that the Government had already brought forward £22billion of support this year and “we stand ready” to do more.
“But that support is part of a broader plan that will grow our economy, encourage investment and create more skilled, more highwage jobs,” he told the Commons.
He spoke as Britain’s rate of
unemployment dropped to 3.7 per cent in the three months to March – the lowest since October to December 1974, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
For the first time, there were fewer unemployed people than vacancies, as job openings hit a record 1.3 million. Mr Sunak said: “I understand these are anxious
times for people but it’s reassuring that fewer people are out of work than was previously feared.”
The ONS also confirmed another rise in the number of UK workers on payrolls, up 121,000 between March and April to 29.5 million.
However, it also said that regular pay, excluding bonuses, plunged by 2.9 per cent in March – the biggest fall since November 2011. Pay including bonuses jumped seven per cent and was up 9.9 per cent in March alone, as some firms ramped up rewards amid a booming jobs market, seen across sectors such as construction and finance.
But Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, warned Britons were facing a “cost-of-living tsunami”, with real wages now almost £300 lower than they were 15 years ago.
He said: “By refusing to take action on the cost of living through an emergency budget, Rishi Sunak has shown once again that the Tories simply aren’t on the side of working people.”
Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI business group, said that the Chancellor needed to “step in now” to help those hardest hit by the rising cost of living.
The Bank of England warned earlier this month that the cost crunch is set to leave the UK on the brink of recession, forecasting that inflation will peak at more than 10 per cent later this year.
On Monday bank governor Andrew Bailey also issued an “apocalyptic” warning about rising food prices. Policymakers have said unemployment will start to rise as the crisis deepens, with the rate set to increase back up to 5.5 per cent.