Zarah Sultana took aim at No.10′s heavily-criticised “levelling up agenda” in a scathing new video circulating on Twitter.
Alluding to the cost of living crisis facing Britons at the moment – as inflation has just hit a 30-year high – the Labour MP claimed the government was doing little to alleviate the problem.
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With soaring gas and electricity bills, rising interest rates and an upcoming national insurance hike, the treasury promised it would act to help lower-income households.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak then unrolled a support package earlier this month which supposedly enabled 28 million households to get their council tax bills slashed by £150 along with £200 reduction in energy bills.
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However, according to Sultana during a clip shared on news outlet Double Down News, Sunak is “taking the piss” by offering only £200 loans even though energy bills are increasing by £700 due to the global squeeze on wholesale gas prices.
Sunak also ignored Labour’s bid to cut the VAT on fuel bills – even though it was marketed as one of the main benefits of leaving the EU.
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Moving onto the startling rise in food prices – as outlined by anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe – Sultana continued: “This government likes to talk about levelling up when in truth, we currently have over five million children in poverty.
“Last month, over a million adults went a day without eating because they couldn’t afford to put food on the table.
“Don’t believe their lies on levelling up – they’re busy punching down.
“If we think things are bad, they are going to get a whole lot worse.”
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Inflation is rising but salaries are not increasing at the same rate, while the head of the bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has even encouraged people not to ask for a pay rise during this cost of living crisis.
Sultana claimed, “things can be done differently, they just take political will,” adding: “The cost of living crisis isn’t inevitable, it isn’t a natural crisis.”
She also proposed taxing wealth over £100 million instead of increasing the national insurance contributions.