From my postbag and door knocking across North Northumberland, I hear the challenges many family budgets have had. As the Prime Minister has said, we have been working to tackle the causes – from the disruptions to global costs from the Covid pandemic and then, shortly after, the Ukraine invasion by Putin, which created huge spikes in oil, fertiliser and food prices. Russia’s invasion drove up global energy prices and inflation to 11.1%, eating into our pockets just like a tax. That’s why halving inflation was our number one priority, and why I’m so pleased we got it right down to 2% – its lowest level in nearly three years.
Despite these unexpected crises, the Conservative government has made progress in getting ahead of them, and the legacy from the last Labour government, which left no money in the till.
Labour’s last turn in government left a deficit of 10% of GDP. Spending 110% of our nation’s income on the taxpayer credit card every month.
The Conservatives’ fiscal discipline and Long-Term Economic Plan – reducing Labour’s deficit from 10% to 2% – restored Britain’s financial security, which meant we were able to provide Cost of Living support when these global crises hit.
Altogether, this Conservative government provided £104 billion of support on energy costs and day-to-day pressures to the poorest, subsidising around half of typical households’ energy bills in 2022/23.
We had your back thanks to our fiscal prudence in those early years of this Conservative government. Alongside the fastest vaccine roll-out in the world, government Covid support to families and businesses, through furlough, loans and other Council-led funds, came to £400 billion – including £200 million for our constituency alone.
Our local businesses received just shy of £100 million in Covid grants – 19,000 payments – alongside 2,000 government-backed loans totalling £78 million. Meanwhile, 12,400 constituents’ jobs were furloughed and protected, and 3,600 self-employed constituents received £32.8m of income support.
I am excited that our economy is now regaining momentum. Wages rising faster than prices. In the first quarter of this year, we grew faster than France, Germany, Japan, Italy and America. Over 14 years, under a Conservative government, we’ve seen the 3rd highest growth rate in the G7 and created four million jobs. That’s an average of 800 new jobs a day, every day. We’ve doubled the personal tax allowance, cut taxes on childcare and frozen fuel duty for 14 years.
We’ve reformed welfare by capping benefits and introduced Universal Credit to help people into work. In April, we cut National Insurance by a third, slashing taxes by an average £900 a year. The Prime Minister is clear that we need to reduce this double tax on work. We uprated the State Pension by £900 and boosted the National Living Wage by £1,800 for a full-time worker. An average worker now pays £1,500 less in tax than they would have in 2010. Meaning we get to keep more of our hard-earned money.
We’ve more to do. For example, having cut tax for workers, our new, fully-funded Triple Lock ‘Plus’ will ensure the State Pension is never subject to income tax.
The plan is working – so let’s stick with it. I hope I can count on your support on Thursday 4th July.