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NatWest chair says best way to help poorest is through benefits
The chairman of NatWest bank has also weighed in on the cost of living crisis.
Sir Howard Davis argued that changes to the benefits system would be the most effective way for the government to help the poorest families struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis, instead of cutting taxes that also give the wealthy a financial boost.
Davies, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, said soaring energy bills and rampant inflation were disproportionately affecting the poorest fifth of households and they should be the focus of financial support measures.
“The squeeze on living standards as a result of higher energy prices and higher food prices is really extraordinary,” he said.
“If you look at what people would need to do on their discretionary spending in order to offset those increases it’s massive.
The bottom 20% of the population, they would have to reduce their discretionary spending by 20% to stay even financially.”
Here’s the full story:
UK benefits only rose by 3.1% in April, in line with last September’s inflation rate.
Resolution Foundation explained last week that the easiest way to help to those hardest hit by high inflation would be to uprate benefits by the current inflation rate (which hit 7% in March).
