Last week, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, brought his Autumn Statement on the Economy to Parliament and I, like others was keen to hear about measures to help the finances of people across my Cheadle constituency and our wider Stockport area.
After Covid, the Ukraine war and an energy shock to people and our economy, I was keen to hear of changes to help people keep more of the money they earn in their own pockets. So, I was very pleased to see tax cut with the rate of National Insurance being reduced from 12 per cent to 10 per cent from January in a post-Christmas boost. This will mean that an average worker, who earns £35,000 a year will keep £450 more of their hard earned money. Alongside this, the Chancellor announced that he is cutting and simplifying tax for two million self-employed people by abolishing an entire class of National Insurance.
We also heard measures announced to support businesses in our area. Alongside Northern Conservative colleagues, I’ve campaigned for full expensing to be made permanent. This means our local businesses, that buy things like machinery or vehicles to help their firms grow, can invest without the added tax burden.
In helping business to grow and employ more people we also need to ensure that workers are properly valued and so we are delivering the largest ever cash increase to the National Living Wage, boosting the hourly rate to £11.44. This represents a 9.8 per cent increase which will benefit 2.7 million workers across the country.
But it is not just workers who will benefit from last week’s Autumn Statement as the Chancellor announced a further commitment to the triple-lock, which will see state pensions increase by 8.5 per cent from next year. This means pensioners across Cheadle constituency will now receive £3,750 more than they did in 2010!
We know that house prices across our area has made finding a home to rent difficult for some people. So, a further measure which will make a difference across the borough of Stockport is the increase to the Local Housing Allowance. This will make more rental properties affordable making being more representative of the private rental market and will deliver an average of £800 a year of support.
Finally, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has met his pledge to halve inflation and its recent fall to 4.6 percent is better news for our household bills. And the Government is on track to meet other pledges – namely to grow the economy and see debt falling.
