KATE OSBORNE MP: Chancellor's autumn statement further proof this government's time is up

In the Chamber yesterday Hunt gleefully reported inflation is only 4.6% - double the target rate - food prices will still rise - they sat there laughing knowing that this will mean people cannot afford food, laughing knowing that their flagship 2 pence tax cut won’t compensate for the tax increases of 10 pence in National insurance that they have already put in place.

Despite their attempts to gaslight the country - the reality is after his big headline announcements working people will still be worse off. Most working families will be worse off. People in energy poverty won’t be lifted out of poverty. People living in food poverty will still be reliant on foodbanks.

After decades of lies, corruption and chaos - does this Government really think people will be fooled into voting for them again? Do they think people will be misled by rebranding the National Minimum Wage to the National Living Wage?

They won’t - people deserve decent pay for a hard day’s work. They're not getting it.

People have paid £4,000 per household more in tax since 2019 - this is on top of higher bills and destruction of public services.

Wages are at the same level as they were in 2008 - more than a decade of pay stagnation - of pay restraint. Instead of an Autumn Statement that dealt with low pay, we get the Government spouting workers vs shirkers rhetoric. Talk about benefit scroungers, taking medication off of people on benefits, and making people work from home instead of getting benefits.

This rhetoric does nothing to help the rising youth unemployment and 1.6 million people under 24 who are looking for work.

These Tories have borrowed more than all Labour Governments combined. They have squandered millions on tax cuts for corporations and the richest, on contracts for cronies - including just this week with the announcement of Palantir being awarded the contract for our NHS data.

Everywhere you look in my constituency of Jarrow you can see the devastating impact of this Government's failings, from the closures of well-known brands on Jarrow high street, Wilko and Boots to name just the most recent, the empty shops, the hundreds of small businesses, struggling to survive because of high rents and bills, sky-high business rates to the huge levels of poverty.

The limited support for business is too little too late - when so many businesses have already gone under because of the lack of investment.

Our schools needed investment to ensure Children’s education does not suffer - they did not get it. 65 of 76 schools in Gateshead now face cuts in 2024 equating to £3.7m/£156 per pupil. 50 of 53 schools in South Tyneside face cuts equating to £4m/£198 per pupil.

I wrote to the Chancellor ahead of the budget joining more than 57 organisations from the North East writing to him about Child Poverty. In our constituency, more than one in three children are living in poverty.

The government's attacks on public services and public sector pay has pushed 14.4m people into poverty. Food Banks are overwhelmed with demand, Mortgages are soaring and homelessness has increased by more than 10% in a year. Finally unfreezing the Local Housing Allowance for Housing Benefit will start to help but again the damage this freeze has done has been devastating and has fuelled the homelessness crisis.

Local authorities are going bust, the NHS has been starved of investment and its staff is treated appallingly, a record 7.8m people are now waiting for a hospital appointment, we have a crisis in recruitment, retention, crisis in maternity, crisis in social care and horrifically child death rates are rising, with the steepest rise in deaths for children under five.

We have a rise in elderly people dying in cold homes, a rise in malnutrition cases and people dying through lack of food and warmth.

We are one of the richest countries in the world, and to have people suffering in this way is a political choice.

In any rational and civilised country, the Chancellor would have focused on cutting poverty, on supporting communities, on businesses and on public services.

This budget failed to deliver for business, failed to deliver for people and failed to deliver for public services.

People are approaching Christmas not worried about buying their kids presents - but worried about paying their heating bills - we needed a budget that dealt with the rising food prices, energy bills and soaring housing costs.

We needed a budget that put the tax burden on those who can most afford it.

We didn’t get one.

They have trashed our economy, public services and businesses. Labour is the only party with a plan to make working people better off.

We need a General Election so we can start fixing the huge mess they have made of our country.