Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 February 2022
It is great privilege to be able to contribute to the debate on the cost of living crisis, which is undoubtedly the single most important issue that millions of families across the country face.
With Ofgem’s announcement today that the energy price cap is set to rise by 54 per cent—meaning that families could be hammered with an extra £700 on top of their existing energy bills—we have to consider that this is actually an emergency debate, because people are desperately worried. They are worried about their income, their job security and their ever-increasing bills that will suffocate and snuff out what little disposable income they have left. They are concerned about putting the heating on, putting food on the table and ensuring that they can keep a roof over their families’ heads. Frankly, they are baffled by just how little people in positions of power are doing to help them through what is likely to be the worst cost of living crisis in living memory.
Although the lack of action from Government at all levels is unforgivable, it is nothing when compared with deliberate and calculated actions such as cutting the universal credit uplift at this time, and placing on unemployed people ridiculous four-week deadlines to secure a job. That callousness will push millions into more poverty and destitution. In Glasgow alone, more than 80,000 people are in receipt of universal credit. To put that into context, that number could have filled Celtic park last night with 20,000 people still left outside it. We should be in no doubt that families will suffer tremendous hardship because of that single decision.
As someone with lived experience of being on universal credit, I find it sickening and cowardly that the richest man ever to have sat in the House of Commons—the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak—thinks that the decision is in some way acceptable. Already one in four children in Scotland lives in poverty. Are we really going to stand here and tell ourselves that those decisions will not make that intolerable situation worse?
We know that the price of energy is skyrocketing, but so, too, are the costs of other necessities. Just last week, the Daily Record reported an increase of nearly 20 per cent on the price of a weekly food shop from the price in January last year. Nationally, food and drink prices were 4.2 per cent higher in the year to December 2021.
How do we fix the situation? I have no doubt that we will hear the usual musings from Conservative members about a strong economy and low taxation stimulating growth, and about how getting people into work is their best route out of poverty. However, when we look at the reality, rather than listen to the rhetoric, we see that what they say would be outrageous, were it not so risible.
We saw that yesterday, in the debate on the Scottish rate resolution. We continually heard Conservative MSPs talking about how Scotland is the highest-taxed part of the UK, while the Conservatives are simultaneously hiking national insurance and putting more pressure on hard-working families. That hike in national insurance will raise an estimated £12 billion. Is not it ironic that that will not even cover the £10 billion that has been wasted on personal protective equipment and the £4 billion-worth of fraudulent applications for public funds that have been written off by the Treasury in recent weeks?
Fundamentally, we need to ask what we can do to help people right now. Labour’s motion outlines what we believe would alleviate some of the pressures on families. On energy costs, we would cut VAT for 12 months and we would implement a windfall tax on companies that are seeing increased oil and gas profits. That would offset virtually all the increase in energy prices that it is speculated will come this year, and it would help 9 million families across the UK. The chancellor has offered just £150 in October and a £200 loan, which will not help at all because it will have to be paid back. Today, Shell reported its highest quarterly profits in eight years, so a windfall tax seems to be a small price for it to pay. That windfall tax would allow the Government to save families around £200 on their energy costs alone.
We need to go much further. I like to think that our approach is something that all members in the chamber could support as a baseline. I am confident that we all agree that we need to help people now. We cannot continue along the same track, pushing people further into poverty because the Government is simply too scared to put its money where its mouth is.
15:08