Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Lower-income Households

Tuesday 7 February 2023 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The next financial year will see a 900 cost of living payment and a 10.1% increase in benefits in line with inflation for lower-income households.
  • The Government claims its fiscal decisions prior to the pandemic enabled 400 billion of help to be allocated to families and businesses.
  • The UK's poorest 5% are less wealthy compared to their counterparts in Ireland and France, while middle-income earners earn less in the UK than in France.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kieran Mullan Con Bexhill and Battle
Economy Benefits & Welfare
Context

The MP inquires about specific fiscal steps the government is taking to support low-income families, citing previous financial challenges faced by the country.

Question

What fiscal steps he is taking to support lower-income households. Given the historical context of high borrowing and limited resources under the previous Labour Government, what measures are being implemented now?

Answer from Jeremy Hunt

In the next financial year there will be a number of measures to help households with the lowest incomes, including a £900 cost of living payment, a 10.1% increase in benefits in line with inflation, and an increase in the national living wage to £10.42 an hour, which represents an extra £1,600 for someone in full-time work.

Answered
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Q2 Kieran Mullan Con Bexhill and Battle
Economy
Context

The MP references the previous Labour Government's fiscal challenges, highlighting that when they took office in 2010, roughly £1 in every £4 spent had been borrowed.

Question

Notwithstanding the collective amnesia on the Opposition Benches, those of us on the Government Benches remember that when we took office in 2010, roughly £1 in every £4 spent by the Labour Government had been borrowed; nor will we forget being told “There is no money left.” Does my right hon. Friend agree that we are only able to take the steps he has outlined—as well as the steps we took during the pandemic—because of careful management of public finances by successive Governments?

Answer from Jeremy Hunt

My hon. Friend is entirely right. It is because we took difficult decisions to reduce the deficit by 80% in the period leading up to the pandemic that we were able to allocate £400 billion of help to families and businesses during the pandemic and £99 billion to families during the energy crisis, which means an average of £3,500 per family this year and next.

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Q3 Angus MacNeil SNP
Economy
Context

The MP cites numerous statistics showing that UK households, especially those in the lowest income brackets, fare worse economically than their counterparts in Ireland, France, and Germany.

Question

A plethora of economic statistics highlight UK inequality and how it affects households. In Ireland, the poorest 5% of the population are 63% richer than their equivalents in the UK. In France, the lowest-earning third earn 20% more than their UK equivalents, while the middle-income third earn 25% more. Low-income households in Germany are 21% richer than those in the UK. Why are the Government maintaining a system that keeps workers in the UK poorer than their equivalents in France, Germany and Ireland? Why are they not paying the workers, and why are they not sorting out the strikes?

Answer from Jeremy Hunt

That is exactly why we are taking difficult decisions to give this country a high-skill, high-wage economy—measures that the Scottish National party opposed at every step.

Not addressed: The specific economic inequality and worker strikes mentioned in the question

How: Shifting Blame To Opposition

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