Budget heaps pressure on families as Government fails rural areas

Helen Morgan has said the Government is “completely out of touch” with the problems facing North Shropshire after the Budget failed to offer any help to the NHS, rural areas and small businesses.

It comes after Jeremy Hunt confirmed that energy bills will remain at £2,500 for the next three months, meaning the typical household energy bill will be double what it was in April 2021.

The Chancellor also scrapped the £400 discount on bills which most households received this winter and failed to U-turn on plans to slash energy bill support for businesses, leisure centres, schools and hospitals by 85%.

Helen Morgan is calling on the Chancellor to cut the Energy Price Guarantee by £500 per household, funded through a proper windfall tax on the record profits of oil and gas companies. This would mean average bills would drop to £1,971 a year, with the support in place until next April.

The Liberal Democrats are also calling for extra targeted support for the least well-off households, including doubling the Warm Homes Discount to £300.

Analysis from the Lib Dems based on official local electricity and gas consumption statistics show that households in Shropshire would save an average of £321 each under the party's plans. This would mean total savings of £40.3 million for local families.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said, “Once again the Government has let down the people of Shropshire. Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are on a different planet and have shown they are completely out of touch with the problems facing rural areas.

“The Government could have cut £500 from family energy bills but instead it has heaped more pressure on people who are already struggling. Meanwhile it has let oil and gas giants off the hook as they rake in record profits from the energy crisis.

“In North Shropshire it takes hours to get an ambulance, weeks to see a GP and months for a hospital appointment. Yet the Budget completely ignored the NHS crisis.

“There was no support for small businesses like our local pubs that are struggling to stay open and there was nothing at all for rural areas like Shropshire where the council is making tens of millions of pounds of cuts.

“Families here deserve a fair deal but instead they are being forced to pay to clean up the Conservative mess.”

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have set out their plan to tackle the energy crisis including:

• A windfall tax on oil and gas companies to raise billions of pounds
• Cutting the Energy Price Guarantee by £500 to £1,971 - the same level as they were last April
• A one-off bonus tax on oil and gas executives
• Doubling the Warm Homes Discount to £300 and the Winter Fuel Payment
• A U-turn on plans to slash energy bill support for businesses, leisure centres, schools and hospitals by 85%, and instead extend current levels of support for another six months

Liberal Democrats would also introduce a national workforce strategy to boost recruitment and retention in the NHS and have called for a £2/hour pay rise for carers to attract staff and ease pressure on the health and care system.