AS INFLATION reaches a 40-year high of 9%, Reading Labour’s leader has called on the government to do more to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Nationally, the party is calling on the government to hold an emergency budget, with suggested measures including a windfall tax of oil and gas producers, cutting business rates, scrapping the national insurance tax rise, and improving access to home insulation grants.
Cllr Jason Brock, Leader of Reading Borough Council and Labour member for Southcote, said that families in Reading are being hammered by the cost of living crisis.
“This Conservative government is making things worse with the imposition of the highest tax burden in 70 years,” he added.
He said that his party had extended support for low-incomes families, with help for energy costs, free school meals during holidays and increasing funding to the voluntary sector.
“But there’s a limit to what we can achieve at a local level – a systematic approach is needed,” he said.
“The Conservative Party has been asleep at the wheel, mired in scandal and in fighting while the rest of us face the worst squeeze on livings standards in living memory. It’s time to stop dithering and start acting – people in Reading need an emergency budget now.”
And his call for a windfall tax on energy firms was echoed by Green councillor and leader of the opposition Rob White.
“Under this Labour council and Conservative government sadly poverty is rising in Reading. In the short term Greens would like to see more financial support for residents from the government funded by a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies,” he said.
“One of our priorities for the council is insulating homes to cut gas and electricity bills. It is disappointing that the Labour-run council failed to spend £500,000 of money for insulating the homes of Reading residents.
“Greens would invest so everyone has a decent affordable home.”
Reading Conservatives leader Clarence Mitchell wanted Reading Labour to be more transparent about its support.
“Labour constantly and inaccurately tries to portray the current cost of living crisis as somehow a ‘Conservative’ one, when they know full well that it has been caused by a number of global factors including the costs of the pandemic and the sharp rise in oil prices caused by the Ukrainian conflict,” he said.
“The Government is most certainly not ‘asleep at the wheel’ and constantly works to do its utmost to support people who are having difficulty making ends meet. That’s why it has taken direct action to help with £150 towards Council Tax payments, increased the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour and raised the National Insurance personal threshold, saving full-time workers £330 a year.
“Locally, Labour also seek to present the Reading Borough Council energy and food voucher scheme as an example of their own generosity, when, in fact, it is only made possible by more than £1m the administration receives from the Government, via the Department for Work and Pensions.”
He added: “By instinct, we are a party of low taxation, one that supports business to invest and grow the UK economy for the benefit of everyone. Given current circumstances, though, a one-off windfall tax on the energy companies does remain an option for Ministers, even though it’s not a zero-cost policy as targeting the increased profits of those companies also runs the risk of reducing dividends for many pensioners who rely on their pension fund investments in them. So a balanced approach needs to be taken.”
