What do you make of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement?
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A CUT in fuel duty was among the measures announced in the Chancellor's Spring Statement today.
With prices on the forecourt surging in recent weeks, the cut is designed to alleviate the financial burden on motorists and businesses - but does it go far enough?
The 5p cut comes into effect tonight and will be in place for 12 months.
The threshold for paying National Insurance has also been raised by over £3000, meaning anybody earning up to £12,570 will not pay income tax or national insurance.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "Where we can make a difference of course we will and that is why the policies announced today are a significant intervention.
"We are on people's side at this difficult time."
There has been a mixed reaction locally and nationally to the Spring Statement.
Moray MP Douglas Ross described it as "hugely positive".
However, SNP MSP Richard Lochhead said that with household budgets at breaking point, the chancellor had failed to provide any substantial support to households.
Sarah Medcraf, chief executive officer of Moray Chamber of Commerce, said: “Whilst the 5p cut to fuel duty and increase in the National Insurance threshold is welcome, the Chancellor should have gone further to help Scotland’s businesses recover.
"A price cap on energy for businesses would have been a welcomed step and would have allowed them to get back on their feet following the pandemic”
Age Scotland, which supports older people, said many more will be facing poverty and fuel poverty.
The Household Support Fund has been doubled to £1 billion which Mr Ross said will help councils like Moray deliver support for the most vulnerable, with Barnett Consequentials from this fund being passed onto the SNP Government.
A cut in the basic rate of income tax will also come into force in 2024 from 20p to 19p; the first such cut in 18 years.
Mr Ross also insisted that businesses in Moray will benefit from a £1000 increase in the Employment Allowance to £5000.
The MP said: “Yet again Rishi Sunak has stepped up and delivered for people and businesses across Moray.
“The largest fuel duty cut ever will be a hugely welcome boost to motorists living in our rural and remote communities who have seen the cost of filling up a tank soar in recent weeks.
"His moves to support motorists is in stark contrast to the SNP-Green Government who want to drive cars off the road."
However, Mr Lochhead claimed the 5p cut does little to help drivers.
“The 5p cut in fuel duty is a drop in the ocean when we’ve seen prices at forecourts hit record levels in recent weeks and will effectively only bring prices back to where they were just over a week ago, according to the RAC," he said.
Mr Ross described raising the NI thresholds as a "bold move".
"Come July many more people in Moray will not be paying a penny in income tax or national insurance altogether.
“His support for businesses by increasing the employment allowance will be a significant boost as they look to recover from the pandemic."
“This was a hugely positive statement for Moray from the Chancellor at this time and I welcome the decisions he has taken to ease some of the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, being felt by individuals and businesses in our communities across Moray.”
Mr Lochhead claimed the Tory Government had failed to provide any substantial support to households across the country who are being forced to the brink with the cost of living crisis and soaring energy costs.
“Family finances are at breaking point with tightening budgets and families were looking to the Chancellor to provide meaningful support but he has instead decided to push people further into hardship.
“While the threshold for National Insurance is being increased, tax payers are being hit with a 1.25 per cent rise in National insurance rates, and so the Chancellor is effectively giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
“The Scottish Government is doing all it can to help those most in need, having announced plans to uprate eight Scottish benefits by 6 per cent from April 1 and double our Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week per eligible child, as well as provide a further £10 million for the Fuel Insecurity Fund which supports people struggling with their energy bills.
“The measures announced by the Chancellor fails Scotland as a whole and doesn’t go anywhere near supporting people in Moray, who are being hit by the double whammy of an energy crisis and a cost of living crisis.”
Meanwhile, the leading charity for older people has warned that the Chancellor’s failure to offer enough support, especially to those on the lowest incomes, means that tens of thousands more older people and pensioners in Scotland could face poverty and fuel poverty as they struggle to pay rising household bills.
Brian Sloan, chief executive of Age Scotland, said: “Older households across Scotland are already reeling from the surge in their cost of living. Older people were looking to the Chancellor today for some respite but, disappointingly, received next to nothing to ease the pain of this very challenging time.
“For pensioners, particularly the hundreds of thousands on the lowest incomes, the cost of essential food and household energy are rising at levels far in excess of anything their incomes can cover.
“Inflation is already vastly outstripping next month’s very modest State Pension rise and our fear that more could soon be living in poverty and fuel poverty becomes very real. The coming months are going to be very difficult indeed."
