As my colleague Graeme Wearden reports on her live business blog, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has criticized the decision to allow second homeowners to receive a double bill discount. £ 400 energy. He told Sky News that this would not have been necessary if the Treasury had not “rushed” with its package. She said:
If the government had not resisted for months the Labor calls for an extraordinary tax and this additional support, the government could have taken the time to get this package right.
It is not correct that if you have a second or third home, you will have to receive this payment of £ 400 several times. Now you can find a situation where someone who is incredibly rich receives £ 400 on three or four occasions because he owns so many properties.
This is only because this package has been accelerated because the government has resisted.
Rachel Reeves at the Commons yesterday. Photo: Jessica Taylor / UK PARLIAMENT / AFP / Getty Images
Chris Bryant to leave Commonwealth Privileges Committee next month to pave the way for investigation into Prime Minister
Chris Bryant has announced that he will step down from the Commonwealth Privileges Committee, which he chairs, next month so that he can be replaced by another Labor MP before starting his investigation into whether or not Boris Johnson deliberately deceived MPs in this regard. who told them. Party door.
1/2 I have convened a meeting of the Committee on the Privileges of the Commons for Tuesday, June 7, to resolve its outstanding issues, that is, a report on the powers of the select committees, to follow up on our previous report (May 2021) on which we have been consulting.
– Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) May 27, 2022
2/2 Having done so, a motion to replace me in the Commission with another Labor MP will pass in the House, after which the Committee will meet again to elect a new President and begin its investigation into the conduct of the Prime Minister, in which I will not participate as I have refused.
– Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) May 27, 2022
Bryant is stepping down because he has publicly accused Johnson of lying to MPs on several occasions in recent months, and therefore agrees that he would not be seen as an impartial president in this matter.
His announcement last month that he would withdraw from the investigation helped reduce the Conservative Party’s opposition to the idea of a privilege commission investigation. The day after Bryant said he would not lead the investigation, government whips abandoned attempts to force Conservative MPs to vote to block it because at the time they were no longer sure they would win the vote.
In the Telegraph, Tony Diver reports that Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labor leader and mother of the House (the oldest MP) is lining up to take Bryant’s place on the committee. “It is understood that Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, is happy to be placed on the privileges committee, while panelists have tentatively agreed that she would be elected chair,” Diver said.
In his statement in April, Bryant said that although he would withdraw from Johnson’s investigation, he wanted to remain chair of the privileges committee and remain in charge of his investigations into other matters. But leaving the committee for good will probably provide more security for the Conservatives.
Chris Bryant. Photo: Parliament of the United Kingdom / Jessica Taylor / PA
Sunak’s measures will offset 82% of the cost of increasing energy bills for average households, says the Resolution Foundation
The think tank of the Resolution Foundation published yesterday its analysis of the announcement of the cost of living of Rishi Sunak. These are the key points.
- Sunak’s measures are “well-targeted,” filling a “big gap” left by earlier announcements this year that didn’t do enough to protect lower-income families, the RF says. He says the impact of all Sunak measures coming into force this year is now “highly progressive.” This graph shows how the poorest households earn up to three times more in cash than the richest households with the measures announced yesterday.
Distributive impact of Sunak measures Photography: Resolution Foundation
- He says the combined effect of the measures announced this year will offset 82% of the cost of rising fuel bills for average households in 2022-23, and more than 90% for poorer households.
- He says the poorest 20% of households will earn £ 1,195 on average from all Sunak measures coming into force this year. The average 20% of households will earn £ 799 on average, but the richest 20% will lose £ 456 on average. This graph shows the impact on households of all Sunak measures that went into effect this year, including the increase in national insurance announced last year but which will take effect from April.
Distributive impact of all Sunak policies coming into force in 2022. Photo: Resolution Foundation
- He says Sunak’s measures are more generous than just increasing profits now by 9.5%. But he says raising the benefits by 9.5% would have been better for families with three or more children, which according to yesterday’s announcement “have become difficult”. This is because flat rate payments to households do not take into account their higher costs.
Updated at 11.25 BST
Johnson says Russia is making “slow but tangible” progress in Ukraine
Boris Johnson has given an interview to Bloomberg, excerpts of which are published throughout the day. Speaking about Ukraine, he said Russia was making “slow but palpable” progress on the Donbass. He said:
I think it’s very, very important that we are not fooled by the incredible heroism of the Ukrainians in pushing back the Russians from the gates of Kyiv.
I fear that Putin, at great cost to himself and to the Russian army, will continue to chew the ground in the Donbas, continue to make gradual, slow progress, but, I fear, palpable. Therefore, it is absolutely vital that we continue to provide military support to the Ukrainians.
As reported by Bloomberg, Johnson said he would like to see more military support in Ukraine, including more multi-launch rocket systems that would allow Ukrainians to attack Russian targets from a greater distance.
He also seemed to reject the prospect of negotiating with Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian president could not be trusted. He said:
How can you deal with a crocodile when it is in the middle of eating your left leg? You can’t trust this guy at all.
Updated at 10.55 BST
Sunak refuses to rule out more emergency support for people with energy bills
These are the main points of Rishi Sunak’s morning interviews.
- Sunak, the chancellor, urged wealthy people who do not need the £ 400 discount on energy bills to donate it to charity. He would do it himself, he said. He also defended the decision to allow second home owners to get it twice. (See 9:34 p.m.)
- I would not rule out a new emergency package to support people with energy bills, even if it means more loans or taxes. When asked in the Today program if he was willing to do so, he replied:
People can judge me by how I have acted over the last two years. I’ve always been prepared to respond to the situation on the ground, what’s going on with the economy, what families are going through, and make sure we have policies in place to support them.
As for ‘is it punctual?’, What will happen next year, I would go back to what I said before. I want people to be reassured and confident that we will overcome this. We will be able to fight and reduce inflation, we have the tools at our disposal and after a while it will go down.
If Sunak is to extend these measures for another year, the impact on debt will be considerable. This was stated by Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on the subject in the IFS analysis published last night.
Today’s announcement is a great home support package this year. But it is not without risks. In particular, if oil and gas prices remain high, the government will no doubt be pressured to continue with additional household support for at least another year. Extending the 5p cut in fuel rights and helping £ 9bn with energy bills announced in the March March statement and £ 15bn of additional household gifts announced today by the chancellor for another 12 months they would add an additional £ 26bn to the loan by 2023. -24.
- He said benefit claimants could expect an increase in payments above inflation next year. This is due to the fact that next April’s rise will be linked to the September inflation level, after which inflation is expected to fall. He said:
What is likely to happen is that benefits and pensions next year will raise inflation levels much higher this year. It is expected to be much higher than the inflation that people will experience next year. So for all those people who can look forward to next year and really feel relatively confident about it.
- He said the impact of the measures announced yesterday on inflation would be “minimal”, meaning less than 1%, he said. That was because most of the money went to the most needy and because the package was funded in part by a tax hike, he said.
- He insisted he was still a “tax conservative.” He said:
First of all, I’m a tax conservative, I think it’s incredibly important that you manage the country’s finances responsibly. This means that after suffering the shock that we did to recover our levels of indebtedness and debt in a sustainable trajectory.
Updated at 10.50 BST
As my colleague Graeme Wearden reports on her live business blog, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has criticized the decision to allow second homeowners to receive a double bill discount. £ 400 energy. He told Sky News that this would not have been necessary if …