John Baron MP welcomes £350 Government support for energy bills

MP: Government should also cancel planned NI rise

Following Ofgem’s announcement that the Energy Price Cap will rise by nearly £700 from April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, has announced a £9.1 billion package of measures to address energy bills which will ensure that the adjustment to higher prices is smaller and spread over a longer period. All households will receive a £200 smoothing rebate, and there will be a non-repayable £150 cash rebate for homes in Council Tax bands A-D, equivalent to 80% of households. There will also be £144 million of discretionary funding for local authorities to support households ineligible for the Council Tax rebate.

John said,

“I welcome this package of measures to help people with the rising costs of energy, which are due to international factors outside the Government’s control. All households will receive £200, and nearly 65,000 households in the local area should be eligible for the further £150 rebate.”

“In addition, the Government has already taken several steps to support families from rising costs. These include reducing the Universal Credit taper rate, increasing the National Living Wage, freezing fuel duty for the 12th year in a row and launching a £500 million Household Support Fund to help the lowest-income households with their bills.”

“However, a further step the Government should take to help with the costs of living would be to cancel the planned rise this coming April in National Insurance. This is very much the wrong tax at the wrong time.”

Notes to Editors

• For further information, please see John’s press release of 28th January [‘John Baron MP: NI rise is wrong tax at the wrong time’].