PM hints at more help to ease cost-of-living crisis

BORIS JOHNSON promised more help for families struggling with rising prices and bills as Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement was criticised for failing to go far enough to protect living standards.

The Prime Minister said the costof-living crisis is “the single biggest thing we’re having to fix” after the Office for Budget Responsibility warned living standards face their biggest fall in a single year since records began in the mid-1950s.

The Resolution Foundation think tank warned 1.3 million people – including 500,000 children – will be pushed into absolute poverty as soaring inflation outstrips increases in pay and benefits.

Mr Johnson acknowledged “it will continue to be tough, it will continue to be chippy, but we will get through it and we will look after people throughout”.

Speaking on LBC Radio he acknowledged “as we go forward, we need to do more” and “the cost of living is the single biggest thing we’re having to fix, and we will fix it”.

Mr Sunak hinted there would be more help with rising energy bills later in the year.

The energy price cap rises by £693 in April and is expected to increase again in October, adding to pressure on household finances.

Mr Sunak told BBC Radio 4: “We’ll have to see where we are by the autumn and it’s right for people to recognise that they are protected between now and the autumn because of the price cap.”

Pressed on whether that means he will intervene before October, Mr Sunak said: “I always keep everything under review, and the government, as it’s shown over the past two years, is always responsive to what’s happening.”

Meanwhile, Treasury minister Simon Clarke has suggested benefits increases in 2023 will be linked to soaring inflation, with the triple-lock also “in place” for pensions.

Mr Clarke told MPs high inflation “will be reflected” in the uprating figures for April 2023 if the current forecasts come to fruition.

The UK Government will uprate benefits by 3.1% this April although the inflation rate is expected to average nearly 8% over the year.

The triple-lock guarantees that pensions grow in line with whichever is highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5%, but the earnings element was suspended for 2022-23 due to fears of an unaffordable rise caused by the impact of the coronavirus crisis on wages.