LABOUR has urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to take urgent action to ease the pressure families are under during the cost of living crisis.

Ahead of the Spring Budget announcement in Parliament next Wednesday, the opposition party has called on the government to stop tax rises

Speaking to The Northern Echo on a visit to the North East on Thursday, which included Gateshead and Sunderland, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves recognised the hardship families are facing in their day-to-day lives.

“This is the governments chance to show that they understand the pressure that families are under at the moment,” Ms Reeves said.

“The chancellor has got to stop sitting on his hands and actually do something because people are worried sick at what this is going to mean for their family.

“People are already not putting the heating on and worrying about feeding their kids. It shouldn’t be like that but unless the chancellor does something, with prices going up far more than wages are, people are not going to be able to get through these difficult times.”

Asked how Labour would tackle the cost of living crisis, Ms Reeves outlined plans for a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers to fund measures to ease the cost of living squeeze, by reducing the average household energy bill by £200.

The £6.6bn plan would include removing VAT on domestic energy bills for a whole year, as well as expanding and increasing the warm homes discount for those most at risk. Reeves blamed ministers for creating a “price crisis” by responding to surging wholesale energy costs with “dither and delay” as she detailed the plan.

The government is under increasing pressure to act, with experts predicting a 50 per cent hike to bills in April, meaning an average household paying about £700 more a year.

Labour says its plan would save most households about £200, while targeted support to low earners, pensioners and the squeezed middle would save them £600.

It would spend an extra £3.5bn on the warm homes discount, to increase it from £140 to £400 a year, while pledging to double the number of households eligible to 9.3 million.

VAT would also be removed from household energy bills for a year from April, six months longer than Labour has previously called for, at a cost of about £2.5bn.

“Increasing the national insurance contribution at precisely the time that people are seeing prices go through the roof is totally the wrong tax at the wrong time,” Ms Reeves added.

“What the chancellor has done to date does not meet the scale of the challenge. The chancellor has got to show that he understands the challenges people are facing. So far, the government are tin-eared.

“Unlike the Tories, Labour is demonstrating that we understand the scale of the challenge and the fear that people are feeling about what’s happening both internationally and here at home with the rising cost of living.

“The Chancellor and the Conservative MPs in the north need to show that because if they don’t there will be a very bleak few months ahead with rising bills. And people are paying the price of the Tories failure. The government must take action.”

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