The Welsh Liberal Democrats have stated their plans to tackle the cost-of-living crisis would save typical struggling family almost £1,000 this year.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS
Party Leader and Senedd Member Jane Dodds has stated while
the Conservatives scramble to save their reputation due to successive scandals,
everyday families are being forgotten by the Government at one of the most
challenging financial periods since the 2008 crash.
Energy bills are forecast to soar by 50 per cent in April or
an estimated £600 per household, forcing families to choose between eating and
heating, while broadband bills are set to rise by 9.3%.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling for a rescue package
of measures to help families cope with the cost-of-living crisis, taking around
£975 off the bills of lower income households.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:
“Welsh Conservative MPs are utterly missing in action and
seem to be more concerned with saving their own political careers and the
career of Boris Johnson than helping the thousands of families across Wales
struggling to pay their bills.
“Costs are going through the roof, but all the Conservatives
are doing is clobbering families with an unfair tax hike. We already have
unacceptably high poverty levels in Wales and Conservative plans would make it
worst.
“People are fed up with playing by the rules and getting
trampled over. Our plans would cut bills today by almost £1,000 for millions of
families struggling to get by. No ifs, no buts, just more money in your pocket
straight away.”
The cost-of-living rescue package being proposed by the Lib
Dems includes:
- Cutting
household energy bills: Taking £300 off the heating bills of around
7.5 million vulnerable and low-income households, by doubling the Warm
Homes Discount and expanding it to all those on Universal Credit. This
would be funded through a one-off Robin Hood tax on the record profits of
oil and gas producers and traders including Russia’s Gazprom based in
London.
- Reversing
planned tax rises: Scrapping the National Insurance tax hike and the
freezing of Income Tax thresholds in April. This would save a working
family on Universal Credit an estimated £403 this year.
- Offering
cheaper broadband: Forcing broadband providers to offer vulnerable
customers cheaper deals of around £15 a month through social tariffs,
benefitting up to eight million households and saving them up to
£270 each this year. These tariffs are currently offered by some
broadband providers on a voluntary basis, but the government could order
the regulator Ofcom to make them mandatory by using a change in the law
introduced in 2020.
ENDS
Notes:
- Energy
bills could rise by 49% from £1,277 to an average of £1,897 in April,
according to energy sector specialist, Cornwall Insights. Money Saving
Expert founder Martin Lewis haswarned the
rise could force families to choose between “eating and heating.”
- Research
by uSwitch has
found that the average monthly spend on broadband among those eligible for
social tariffs is £34.50. This is set rise to £37.71 a month with a 9.3%
price increase in April, or £452 year. The average household that switched
to a social tariff basic broadband deal of £15 per month (£180 a year)
would therefore save an estimated £272 a year.
- Under
Liberal Democrat proposals, a Universal Credit-eligible household
comprising two adults aged 25 or over, working 40 hours a week and paid
the National Living Wage (earning £19,760 p.a. each), with two school-age
children, would see an annual saving of £975.52. This would result from:
£201.50 per earner (£403 total) from the uprating of the Income Tax
personal allowance and the scrapping of the National Insurance increase;
an additional £300 from the Warm Home Discount; and £272.52 through the
broadband social tariff discount.
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