Rachel Hopkins MP has called on the Conservative Government to cancel its planned National Insurance hike in April to prevent families from facing further financial hardship.
The Conservative Government will intensify the cost of living crisis by implementing its planned National Insurance hike. Increasing National Insurance by 1.25% will cost families an average of £500 per year from April 2022.
Rachel Hopkins MP has called on the Conservatives to halt the National Insurance rise before it’s too late – as well as calling for a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas to stop energy bills rising over the next year.
It comes as inflation spirals and the cost of living crisis grows, and as the Labour Party used their Opposition Day Debate on Tuesday to urge the Government to halt their planned National Insurance rise.
To address the immediate crisis, Rachel Hopkins MP has said Labour would bring in fully-funded measures now to reduce the expected price rise in April – saving most households in Luton South around £200 or more.
Labour would also increase and expand the Warm Home’s Discount, targeting extra support to the squeezed middle, pensioners and the lowest earners, saving 23,355 households in Luton South up to £600 off bills and offsetting the total forecasted energy bills increase. Labour would pay for this plan with a one-off windfall tax on North Sea Oil and Gas producers who have profited from price rises.
Rachel Hopkins MP said:
“After a decade of failed Conservative energy policies, households and businesses across Luton and the UK face steep increases in energy bills.
The Conservative Government will intensify the cost of living crisis by implementing its planned hike in National Insurance. This reckless decision will force many into financial hardship. The public deserves a government that will step up to tackle the crisis, not deepen it.
Only Labour has a plan to give households the security they need, which includes cancelling the national insurance rise and introducing fully-funded measures to save most households around £200 off their bills.”
You can watch my speech in Parliament on this issue below.
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Notes to Editors
- Constituency breakdown below
- Labour’s policy would increase Warm Homes Discount to £400 and extend it to middle-income households claiming Universal Credit, Legacy Benefits or Pension Credit
- Data on the numbers eligible for Labour’s Warm Homes Discount offer are based on figures published by the House of Commons Library, referring to August 2021, and a data extract from the Department for Work and Pensions Stat-Xplore database, referring to May 2021
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-universal-credit-roll-out/