Pay rise for rich won’t help poor

■ The Government’s presumption seems to be that giving the rich more money will create opportunities for the poor – but will this really happen?

While those well-off are showered with tax breaks, the income of normal working people is in real terms diminishing – and their economy-boosting spending power is dwindling.

They are also bearing the brunt of the economic effects of the West’s conflict with Russia by paying exorbitant prices for energy.

Not everyone agrees with Liz Truss’s trickle-down economics, not least Joe Biden, who we hope will give us trade deals.

We want Truss’s gamble to work but for most people it may not be a trickle down of wealth they experience but a deluge of debt. Diane Silva, Bournemouth

■ I really hope all the Labour Red Wall voters who switched to the Conservatives in 2019 are happy after the mini budget.

How you ever thought the Tories would do anything for anyone other than the rich amazes me. Still, you reap what you sow. Please don’t make the same mistake at the next election. The sooner we are rid of this corrupt party in government the better.

Mick Hall, Preston

■ I couldn’t help having a wry smile when listening to Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, responding to the recent budget, accusing the Tories of a low investment, low productivity

economy. Yet, both of these are synonymous with past Labour administrations. They also sprinkled benefits like confetti.

It should be obvious to anyone that the financial crisis, caused by Covid and the Ukraine war, will eventually have to be paid for by the taxpayer as governments have no money of their own.

It is that simple.

Jim Sokol

Woodcombe, Minehead

■ Once again the Tories have ignored pensioners. Nothing in this richest-enhancing budget gives any hope to the three and a half million OAPs who are already the poorest in Europe. They will not forget come election time.

R Tandy, Liverpool

■ The Chancellor’s mini budget was no surprise to most people. Look after your own, the rich get richer and the poor have to fend for themselves again. We need a General Election. Let’s get rid. Janet Williams

Loughborough, Leics

■ The Chancellor has chosen to make the rich even richer by reducing the basic rate of income tax to 19p, getting rid of the 45% rate of income tax and getting rid of the National Insurance rise.

But what about low earners who pay little tax and NI and pensioners who pay no tax or NI – where are the benefits for them?

The Conservatives are again looking after their own and ignoring the working class. Anthony Treadwell Atherstone, Warwicks

■ Labour should start looking now at how they can repair the damage they will inherit. The Tories have gone for bust, and the forecast for the value of the pound says it all.

They know they can’t win the next election, so they are going to leave the biggest mess they can. Interest rates are going to go through the roof bringing a lot of misery. If you think food prices are high now, wait until you see the cost with a weak pound.

T Williams Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex