AS THE cost of living crisis tightens peoples’ wallets, Labour claims Slough wages will be over £1,000 worse off.
National Labour’s Shadow Treasury team have calculated the average squeeze on wages for workers in each local authority.
The opposition party claims Slough residents could see their earnings fall by £1,161 by 2023. Slough councillor Christine Hulme (Lab: Central), lead member for learning and skills, said the cost of living crisis is “hammering” the townspeople.
But Conservative leader Dexter Smith (Colnbrook with Poyle) questioned how Labour worked out their figures, adding it was “as reliable as [Slough] council’s handling of its finances over the last five years.”
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor has called the government to scrap the “damaging and unfair” National Insurance rise in favour of a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits.
Cllr Hulme said the Spring Statement was the last day for Chancellor of Exchequers Rishi Sunak to scrap this tax hike, adding he made “the wrong choices for Slough” and for the country.
She said: “All we got from the Chancellor in his Spring Statement was a promise of jam tomorrow rather than the support that is needed now – and now we learn that workers in Slough are facing a sharp squeeze on their wages, losing £1,161 from their pay packet by next year.
“With this significant loss of income families now have the real concern of choosing between heating and eating.
“We’ve got to get a grip on spiralling inflation and the rising cost of living crisis which is leaving people worse off.
“Not only is it leaving people worse off and worried about paying the bills – it’s stopping their spending going back into our local economy, so our businesses and our growth is suffering.”
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However, Cllr Smith said most people will be paying less National Insurance after Mr Sunak increased the threshold this year by £3,000. This means people earning £12,570 a year won’t pay a single penny in income tax or National Insurance.
He also said the rate of personal income tax is the lowest in the last 25 years and the government has cut fuel duty by 5p per litre and has handed out £150 in council tax rebates.
Cllr Smith said: “The fact we have the fastest growing economy in the G7, according to the IMF last year, shows that the government is doing what it can to stimulate the British economy and it’s working.”
He added: “They [Labour] have chosen their battleground has real wages. So, what their trying to do is distract from the bigger picture about the tax burden, what’s happening internationally, and the growth of the economy.
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“But what Labour is saying is ‘what people should really be concerned about is that inflation is rising faster than wages’.
“Well, we don’t know that. It probably will but that’s not something that’s happening in isolation in Slough or in the UK, and by how much is anyone’s guess.”
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