Autumn Budget: MP says towns like Barnsley will be “hardest hit”

Jeremy Hunt today unveiled his budget, which will see councils given the option to raise council tax by five percent, and announced that electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty from 2025.

The Chancellor added that benefits and pensions will rise in line with inflation; a rise in the national living wage; and a 12-month extension to the household support fund.

Average energy bills are set to increase to £3,000 with a rise in the energy price cap from April.

Dan Jarvis, Labour MP for Barnsley Central told the local democracy reporting service that “the country will pay for the government’s incompetence”, and that levelling up is “needed more than ever”.

Mr Jarvis said: “We’ve had three Prime Ministers in three months with wildly different economic agendas. From tax relief to tax rises, and spending plans to spending cuts, the country doesn’t know if they’re coming or going with this Government.

“What’s clear is that this isn’t a plan for economic growth and people across the country will pay the price for this government’s incompetence. While the impact of today’s announcements will be felt everywhere, they won’t be felt fairly, it’s towns like Barnsley that will be hardest hit.

“Levelling Up in places like Barnsley and right across South Yorkshire is needed more than ever to get us out of recession. It was disappointing to hear we won’t know if we’ve been awarded funding until later this year. We can’t afford to wait any longer, the Government needs to show they are serious, and get on with it.”

Stephanie Peacock, Labour MP for Barnsley East added: “After 12 years of economic failure under the Tories, we needed strong action and sturdy measures from the Chancellor in his fiscal statement.

“Instead, we see mortgages and rents going up, schools and public services crumbling, and disposable household income per person falling by the highest level on record.

“The Chancellor should have apologised for the carnage the Tories have plunged our economy into, but all he gave us was more of the same: working people paying the price for their mistakes.’