"Our communities and businesses need support and they need it now."
That's the message from one North East MP following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's emergency statement this morning as he seeks to restore stability following weeks of turmoil on the financial markets.
The new Chancellor, who was appointed on Friday, confirmed he is ditching many of the measures set out by former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget last month. It included scrapping the planned cut to income tax and reducing household energy bill support to six months.
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But some people in the North East said today's announcement offered no reassurance for families on low incomes who face financial struggles amid a growing cost of living crisis.
Responding to the new Chancellor's statement this morning on the Government's Medium-Term Fiscal Plan, Chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, Anna Turley, said: "The Chancellor spoke about the need to provide economic stability and certainty, but offered absolutely no reassurance on how he will deliver this for the growing number of families across the North East already struggling to afford the basics.
"Hundreds of thousands of low income families across our region – most of whom are either in low paid work or unable to work – still do not have the certainty that the vital support they receive through social security will rise in line with prices. And now they face the instability of yet another hike in their energy bills from April, on top of the astronomical increases in household costs we’ve seen over the last year.
"The Chancellor must begin to put this right by urgently confirming he will raise benefits like Universal Credit by inflation, otherwise hundreds of thousands of North East families face being cut completely adrift. It is just unimaginable that children and young people in the North East – which already has the highest rate of child poverty in the country – could be left to pay the price of the Government's economic incompetence."
Today's announcement fuelled calls for a General Election, with a number of North East MPs branding the current Tory government as a "shambles".
Mary Kelly Foy, Labour MP for the City of Durham, said: "This week's Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has now ripped up virtually all of Liz Truss's mini-budget including her promise to support household energy bills, slashing it from two years to just six months!
"After four Chancellors in four months, people are rightly asking who voted for this grotesque chaos?
"The British people did not vote for the Prime Minister's Kamikaze budget, which crashed the pound in their pocket, threatened their hard-earned pensions, and sent the cost of their mortgage soaring. Nor did they vote for the sweeping spending cuts to their already crumbling public services to pay for the chaos the Conservative's ideological incompetence has unleashed on the economy.
"The damage they have already inflicted will last decades. Our communities and businesses need support and they need it now. This is a Tory Government without a mandate. Utterly unfit to govern. Out of touch. Out of ideas.
A general election must be called."
Newcastle Central Labour MP, Chi Onwurah, said: "It's a total shambles and the statement from their latest Chancellor simply underlines that the damage has been done.
"This is a Tory crisis made in Downing Street, paid by working people with higher mortgage and higher borrowing costs. They've lost all credibility.
"The Chancellor said growth requires "confidence and stability". Does anyone think the Tories can provide this?
"Only Labour offers the leadership and ideas Britain needs to fix the economy and get out of this mess."
Jarrow Labour MP, Kate Osborne, branded the outcome of the Chancellor's announcement as a "complete U-turn and an absolute shambles".
In a statement, Ms Osborne said: "The Chancellor has junked the entire budget announced by Kwarteng-and Truss's two year energy support guarantee! A complete U turn and an absolute shambles.
"Just last week during Prime Ministers Questions, Truss twice said her energy support package guarantee would last two years. Yet Hunt reduced it to six months.
"Truss is clearly not in charge - she has no political support, no control over her Government, shown by her entire policy platform being reversed by this week's Chancellor.
"The damage they have done will take years to recover from - the Tories are more incompetent than ever and offer no help to communities and businesses in the Jarrow constituency who are worrying about obscene bills. They have no mandate, no plan, and no clue.
"No one voted for this Tory chaos. We need a general election now."
The calls for a general election were echoed by Wansbeck Labour MP Ian Lavery. He said: "Austerity 2.0 here we come imposed by an unelected, in office but out of power, PM. Not much more to cut really but scavenging the financial carcass. We need a general election now."
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