As an energy price hike looms, Chancellor says his mini budget will ‘put extra pounds in people’s pockets at a difficult time’.
Metro’s Money columnist Andy Webb, founder of Be Clever With Your Cash, sits down with the Chancellor to discuss the Spring Statement.
The email arrived late on the Thursday before last. Subject: ‘Rishi Sunak – potential podcast guest’. Would I like to interview the Chancellor on my Cash Chats podcast to discuss the Spring Statement?
The answer was, obviously, yes. This would be a coup for my show and my listeners. It was agreed, I would get ten minutes the day after he outlined his mini Budget to Parliament.
It was hard to plan for this interview until the policy announcements were made.
Perhaps naively, I thought the fact he was reaching out to an audience focused on household finances meant we would get something meaty to help in the cost of living crisis.
As I am sure you know by now, that didn’t really happen. Though the 5p cut in petrol duty (6p when you factor in VAT) will cost £2.4billion, on an individual level it’s only £2 or £3 off per tank.
Lifting the National Insurance threshold was sold as a £330 tax cut, but most of those eligible will get far less and those earning less than £9,880 a year won’t benefit at all.
People aren’t happy. I asked the Chancellor if he was disappointed by the reaction. ‘I don’t expect anyone to ever say you’ve done enough,’ he said, adding that the plans he announced ‘will really help people and put extra pounds in their pockets at a difficult time’.
With no extra measures announced for energy bill support, was the job done when it came to energy as far as the Treasury was concerned?
It seems so. Referring to next month’s £150 council tax rebate and the £200 bill reduction in October (we disagreed about whether this was a loan or not), the Chancellor told me: ‘Maybe it’s a downside of trying to announce things before they actually happen and people then slightly forget what you have already announced.’ Clearly the Government feels it has done enough.
We talked more, including how those, like him, in the fortunate position of being able to afford extra costs can relate to those who will be faced with the choice of heating or eating. ‘Judge me by my actions’ was the mantra. I’m sure we will.
As our chat neared its end, Rishi insisted those on the lowest incomes would feel the benefit of Wednesday’s announcement, especially when coupled with changes he introduced in autumn last year.
‘A single mother, with two kids, renting, working full-time on the National Living Wage… is going to be £1,600 better off as a result of all those policies.’
With that, my time was over and the Chancellor wrapped up his final answer, hitting ten minutes to the second.
There was no time left to find out what a non-crisis Rishi Sunak would look like (the income tax cut announced for 2024 gives us a hint), where he draws the line on who he can help with the cost of living crisis, or where government expects people to go if support on offer isn’t enough.
Hopefully I’ll get another crack to ask those questions and more.
Listen to Andy’s full interview with Rishi on Andy’s ‘Cash Chats’ podcast, by podcast app or via podfollow.com/cashchats
Feeling the pinch?
What’s your lived experience of the cost of living crisis? Are you one of the mums Rishi Sunak claims will be £1,600 better off? Is that how you are feeling? Let us know. Email money@metro.co.uk.
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