Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s emergency statement means there is “very little stability” for families on a low income, Rachelle Earwaker, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said.
Ms Earwaker told Sky News this morning that Mr Hunt yesterday chose to make “immediate” measures to bring security and stability to the markets but “no security and stability” had come to families on low incomes.
“These are families who are trying desperately to get their essentials at the moment,” she said.
“Trying to get food on their table. There is now no certainty that benefits will be uprated in April with inflation and come April as well, which is looking like a financial cliff edge for families, we don’t yet know what the energy support will be like for families.
“So I would say there is very little stability there at the moment for lower-income families.”
Asked what Mr Hunt needed to do in his Halloween fiscal update, she added: “The chancellor says that he is committed to making sure he is protecting the most vulnerable, and we absolutely need to see that benefits will be uprated in April in line with inflation.
“If not, hundreds of pounds will be cut from the budgets of families, and they will certainly not be able to afford essentials going forward.”
Ms Earwaker went on to say the government had a “range of tough decisions coming up” and needed to be careful that if public service cuts were to happen it would not affect the most vulnerable in society.
Source: Skynews.com