Rishi Sunak ‘considering further help on bills’ as cost of living fears grow

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to be considering a new tax rebate as part of further support for families after his spring statement failed to ease growing fears about living costs.

Mr Sunak is now “weighing up” a further rebate on council tax bills as part of a new multibillion-pound package after No 10 made clear its “panic” over the cost of living crisis, the Sunday Times reported.

“We’ve already looked at this and concluded that council tax is the best way to do it,” a Treasury source told the newspaper. “You’ve got an existing mechanism ... It would make sense to do it like that again.”

The chancellor came in for heavy criticism for his failure to provide any extra help on energy bills and council tax, beyond the previously-announced £200 loan and a rebate of £150 to those living in properties in council tax bands A to D.

Boris Johnson and his team are said to be “panicking” about the impact of the rising food and energy bills ahead of the May local elections.

Downing Street special advisers have reportedly been shown private polling showing that the cost of living is now the number one public concern for the British public, surpassing the NHS and healthcare.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi hinted that Mr Sunak is planning further help with living costs in the months ahead. “I think he will continue to keep an eye on this, it’s only right,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

He added: “It’s irresponsible for me to say ‘job done’ because energy prices are volatile, inflation remains high, so it would be absolutely irresponsible to say ‘job done’.”

Vicky Pryce, former head of the Government Economic Service, said there was “huge tension” between No 10 and the Treasury. She told LBC the chancellor “would like to be seen as someone that brings the finances back to some sort of normality”.

Senior Tory MP Stephen Crabb said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing it would not be “sustainable” to wait until the next budget in autumn.

Mr Sunak has been branded “Mr Tax” by Labour as they attacked “very severe real-terms cuts to the pension and support like universal credit”.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Jon Ashworth gave the nickname to Mr Sunak while warning that pensioners have been “cutting back on hot meals” and “forgoing hot showers” as they cannot afford the cost.

Mr Ashworth told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: “Rishi Sunak absolutely had more room for manoeuvre in this spring statement and mini budget, but rather than acting in the interests of the British people, he was playing games.”

New Labour analysis of the Office of Budget Responsibility figures found that the average households would be hit with rises of £3,000 by 2026/27.

The Resolution Foundation think tank has warned that around 1.3 million Britons will be pushed into poverty by the cost-of-living squeeze this year – including some on “middle-incomes”.

Senior Tory backbencher Stephen Crabb said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing it would not be “sustainable” to wait until the budget in autumn.

Food bank bosses have told The Independent that a growing number of middle-class Britons are already coming to them in “desperate” need of help.

And there is growing concern about existing poverty in Britain becoming much more intense in the months ahead.

Consumer expert Martin Lewis has said some people could “starve or freeze”, while food campaigner Jack Monroe also warned dire poverty could prove “fatal” in some cases.

The former Assistant Chief to the Defence Staff has said the government must prepare the British public for a “long-term degradation” in living standards.

General Jonathan Shaw told LBC: “We need to be psychologically preparing our people for a long-term degradation of standard of living and a long-term confrontation with Russia.”