A £400 energy bill discount and a windfall tax on oil and gas firms have been unveiled only to cover up “horrendous partying” in Downing Street, Labour’s deputy leader told a crowd in Newcastle.
Angela Rayner claimed on Thursday night that the £15bn worth of measures revealed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help tackle the cost of living crisis were designed to distract from the Partygate scandal, after the release of the long-awaited Sue Gray report the day before. Speaking at a Trade Union Congress rally at Newcastle Civic Centre, the Ashton-under-Lyne MP slammed the “Bullingdon Club they have put into No 10 to get pissed up while everyone else is losing relatives and are living on the bread line”.
Alongside the £400 discount and the £5bn levy on oil and gas giants, Mr Sunak also revealed further one-off payments of £600 to households on benefits, £300 for pensioners, and £150 for the disabled. But Ms Rayner, Keir Starmer’s deputy, said the measures have come too late and would not help families already struggling with their bills before prices rise again later this year.
