A whopping £1.75 a month in supermarket savings? Please, John Healey, don't insult our intelligence
Cheaper chocolate and baked beans, 4p off pickled gherkins, and a whopping £1.75 a month in supermarket savings?
Please, Mr Healey, do not insult our intelligence.
The financial pressures facing individuals and families up and down the UK right now require far bigger, bolder economic measures.
Instead of cutting out-of-control public spending, the Chancellor raided workers, savers and landlords, whilst chucking a few scraps to the rest of us.
Heading into winter 2026, many Britons are not able to heat their homes properly and eat well.
The cost of living crisis is real and we deserve better.
All along, the financial scraps have been laughable.
Andy Burnham came to power pledging £2 bus fares, when they had risen under Labour anyway.
Then he announced a VAT cut to electricity bills for six months, when the price cap would wipe out that saving.
Following this, he unveiled action on unfair airline charges when we can barely afford our holidays abroad anymore.
Next, it was action on standing charges for gas, without tackling the unit price.
Now we hsvr had the long-awaited Budget and one thing’s for sure: we are not laughing anymore.
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A "breathing space" Budget, when the country is crying out for a blast of pure oxygen.
"Fresh hope for the future", when many of us feel more hopeless every day.
Where are the plans to turn this country around, to make us feel, if not richer, at least not poor?
Who eats gherkins anyway?
But remember, there is a whole lot of hope.
Labour has just launched a new Substack for voters to "hopescroll" when we all want affordable, decent living standards.
The Prime Minister is constantly telling us he "gets it" but this hope stuff is just patronising and will not pay the bills.
We are being treated like financially illiterate toddlers.
Do they think we do not understand interest rates, or that we cannot see clobbering landlords will raise rents, or that we do not see the cash-flow problems for the self-employed ahead?
How will £100 handouts help in the long term when we know the energy price cap is set to soar by almost 30 per cent over the winter months?
To add insult to injury, as the Chancellor delivered his Budget, he bragged he had been on the phone to Volodymyr Zelensky and pledged a further £10billion of military support for Ukraine.
Zelensky’s reaction? "You’ve made my day."
Back in July, Burnham had promised us a "cost of living" government.
And now?
Zelensky gets £10billion and we get gherkins.
Yes, Prime Minister, we desperately want action on the cost of living, but these measures are chicken feed.
Do not take us for fools.
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