West Dunbartonshire’s MP has slammed the UK Government for “abandoning” local families as rocketing energy price hikes take effect.
The 54 percent rise in the energy price cap, which came into force on April 1, means households face an unprecedented £700 annual rise in fuel costs.
The typical household will now pay almost £2,000 a year for gas and electricity.
Speaking in the House of Commons, SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes made reference to a Lennox Herald article last month which told how struggling families have turned down free meals from a foodbank because they can’t afford the energy to heat them up.
He said: “Across Clydebank, Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven there are people facing real hardship due to the UK government’s failure to act over soaring gas and electricity prices.
“I’ve spoken in parliament about the difficult choices my constituents are having to make between heating and eating.
“It’s appalling that as more families are being forced into food banks, people are having to turn down food because they can’t afford the energy needed to cook it.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out measures in his Spring Statement, which he said aimed to combat soaring energy, food and fuel prices.
He cut fuel duty by 5p but resisted calls to scrap April’s National Insurance rise of 1.25p in the pound, warning the UK’s post-pandemic recovery had been blown off course by the war in Ukraine.
The salary threshold at which workers start making National Insurance contributions will increase by £3000 to £12,570, bringing it into line with the income tax threshold.
But the Chancellor has been under fire from MPs, anti-poverty charities and advocacy groups, who say it fails to protect households facing the largest fall in living standards since the 1950s.
The Energy Action Scotland charity has forecast that 41 percent of people living in West Dunbartonshire will soon be spending more than 10 percent of their income on gas and electricity – the official definition of fuel poverty.
Mr Docherty-Hughes said: “The measures announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget Statement are woefully inadequate.
“Yet again the Tories seem content to condemn thousands more West Dunbartonshire households into poverty.
“The UK government holds the levers of power to tackle this energy crisis, but it is making a political choice to abandon struggling families to hardship.
“The Tory Chancellor’s inaction is shameful, especially compared to what our neighbours in Europe are doing to reduce the burden of rising energy costs.
“Time and again our communities are being failed by governments at Westminster. It shows why Scotland needs the powers of a normal independent country, so we can choose a different path.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “This statement puts billions back into the pockets of people across the UK and delivers the biggest net cut to personal taxes in over a quarter of a century.
“Cutting taxes means people have immediate help with the rising cost of living, businesses have better conditions to invest and grow tomorrow, and people keep more of what they earn for years to come.”
